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Panic as thousands of Woolworths shoppers potentially exposed to COVID-19

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>Anyone who has been to the Woolworths in Berala from the 20th of December to the 31st of December is being urged to immediately self-isolate and get tested for coronavirus until a negative result is returned.</p> <p>The supermarket giant is panicking as it's believed thousands of shoppers have potentially been exposed to the virus after a staff member is believed to have worked while infectious.</p> <p>The Woolworths store is physically linked to the Berala BWS store, which is the epicentre of the most recent outbreak.</p> <p>At least 15 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the outbreak at the bottle shop, with 188 active cases in NSW at the time of writing.</p> <p>Acting Premier John Barilaro said on Monday taht the amount of people coming forward for testing was too low and urged Western Sydney residents to be swabbed if they showed the slightest of symptoms.</p> <p>The government currently wants to see 30,000 to 50,000 tests each day, but the numbers are reported to be much lower.</p> <p>Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said that two new cases were reported after 8 pm yesterday and they came from the Berala cluster.</p> <p>"So just to summarise, the Berala cluster originated from returning overseas travellers and then there was a healthcare worker person who was involved in the transfer of those patients, and then that person passed it on unknowingly to a close contact and that close contact went to the BWS," Dr Chant said.</p> <p>"Can I just stress that at the time where the person entered the BWS, they had no symptoms and no reason at all to think they had COVID infection.</p> <p>"And it really is important that we all bring that to mind that any time we're out and about, someone could have COVID and that's why we need those universal precautions of keeping that physical distancing and the mask-wearing, particularly in those indoor settings."</p> </div> </div> </div>

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Which stores are open this holiday season?

<p>End-of-year public holidays are coming. For shoppers looking to buy gifts, food and other last-minute groceries, figuring out the trading hours of retailers can be tricky.</p> <p>The laws vary from state to state, and <a href="https://www.nra.net.au/app/uploads/2019/10/Christmas-New-Years-Trading-Hours-2019-2020-National.pdf">some parts might be exempted from restrictions</a>.</p> <p>Find out more about the opening hours of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/what-stores-are-open-across-the-country-this-christmas-and-new-year/news-story/08091421469d547243749e87ff10a58c" target="_blank">various major retailers</a> below.</p> <p><strong>Westfield</strong></p> <p>All Westfields across the country will be closed on Christmas Day.</p> <p>The malls are all open on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. In NSW, all stores are open on Christmas Eve from 9am to 6pm except for Woden, Belconnen, Kotara and Tuggerah, which close an hour earlier. Parramatta is open from midnight until 6pm Christmas Eve.</p> <p>In Queensland, all stores are open from 7am to 6pm with the exception of Inaloo, which is open from 9am on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.</p> <p>All Victorian Westfields are open on Christmas Eve from 8am till 6pm except for Fountain Gate, which opens an hour earlier. On Boxing Day, all malls are open at 8am and close between 9pm and 10pm.</p> <p>In South Australia, all stores are open from 9am to 5.30pm on Christmas Eve – except for Marion, which is open from midnight – and from 9am till 5pm on Boxing Day.</p> <p>Western Australia stores are open from 8am till 6pm on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day except for Inaloo, which is open from 9am.</p> <p><strong>Coles</strong></p> <p>All Coles stores will be closed on Christmas Day.</p> <p>In Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT all stores will open under normal trading hours for the rest of the season with the exception of Knox and Coburg, which will be closed on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.</p> <p>In NSW, all stores will be open on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day except for Smithfield and Macquarie Fields, which will be closed.</p> <p>Queensland stores will also trade as normal with the exception of Mt Isa, Goondiwindi and Ayr, which will be closed on Boxing Day, December 29 and New Year’s Day.</p> <p>Western Australians and South Australians are encouraged to check their local stores for details as metropolitan and regional stores’ opening hours may vary.</p> <p><strong>Woolworths</strong></p> <p>All NSW, SA, ACT, NT, VIC and TAS stores are open on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. The Western Australia stores will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.</p> <p>Queensland stores will have varying opening hours – most will open until 6pm on Christmas Eve with Mullumbimby opening until 7pm.</p> <p>Western Australia stores will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with Perth metropolitan stores opening from 7am to 9pm on weekdays and 8am to 6pm during weekends.</p> <p>All stores will be open on Boxing Day with the exception of the following: NSW’s Leichhardt Marketplace; WA’s Esperance and Katanning; and Queensland’s Weipa, Mission Beach, Mount Isa, Ayr, Bowen, Charters Towers, Proserpine, Blackwater, Childers, Pittsworth, Chinchilla, Kingaroy and Roma.</p> <p><strong>ALDI</strong></p> <p>ALDI supermarkets will be closed on Christmas Day and have reduced hours on Christmas Eve. The New Year’s Day will also see most stores changing their trading hours.</p> <p>The German retailer encourages shoppers to check the opening hours online.</p> <p><strong>Big W</strong></p> <p>All Big W stores across the country will be closed on Christmas Day and open on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, with the exception of Queensland’s Kingaroy which closes on Boxing Day.</p> <p>Kingaroy will also be closed on New Year’s Day along with all NSW stores, while the rest of stores across the country are open.</p> <p><strong>BWS</strong></p> <p>Some stores – including NSW’s Boomerang Drive and most in Tasmania, Victoria and SA – will be open on Christmas Day.</p> <p>All stores will be open on Boxing Day except for Coogee, Castle Hill, Leichhardt Marketplace and Marketplace Drive, North Sydney and Pymble in NSW as well as Forest Lake, Coorparoo, Mission Beach, Parker Street and Burdekin Plaza in Queensland.</p>

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Woolworths’ $300 million wage scandal expands to include Dan Murphy’s and BWS staff

<p>Woolworths Group chairman Gordon Cairns has revealed that the Woolworths underpayment scandal – which saw close to 6000 workers underpaid by $300 million across a decade – also involved staff from liquor arms Dan Murphy’s and BWS.</p> <p>Speaking to shareholders in Sydney today, Cairns said Woolworths had “fully expected” to discover more cases across the business, “and we have”, though “not to the same extent as in the supermarket business.”</p> <p>Cairns felt that that the fact so many staff members were underpaid was “incredibly disappointing”, he said at today’s annual general meeting.</p> <p>“It was brought to our attention by three of our team members in February this year. We immediately investigated, found their assertions about their individual circumstances to be correct, and we remedied.</p> <p>“We then began an across-the-board investigation, which continues given we are checking every shift for every salaried team member back as far as this has been an issue or records exist.”</p> <p>He proceeded to say that he and CEO Brad Banducci were “accept[ing] responsibility by voluntarily taking reductions in [their] pay” with Banducci forfeiting his short-term incentive while Cairns would face a 20 per cent reduction in his director fees.</p> <p>Back in October, Banducci had said that he was fully prepared for his bonus to be cut due to the underpayment incident. Last financial year, he pocketed $2.66 million as well as $4 million in bonuses.</p> <p>“I fully expect to have a conversation with the board on the consequences of this and I fully expect it will be impacting bonuses for myself and maybe there will be other things that come out of it,” he said.</p> <p>“We apologise to our team, we’re going to make it right, but it’s a very complex issue.”</p> <p>Law firm Adero Law has filed a class action against the grocery giant, saying the total amount is over $620 million.</p> <p>“Adero is instructed that current and former Woolworths employees have suffered underpayments and systemic wage theft during their employment at Woolworths on a far greater scale than the retail giant has disclosed,” Adero’s website stated.</p> <p>But Woolworths said it will “fully defend” the proceedings.</p> <p>“In the context of its commitment to fully remediate all affected salaried team members, Woolworths Group believes the class action proceedings are without merit,” the company said.</p> <p>“Woolworths estimates that the one-off impact for remediation is expected to be in the range of $200-300 million (before tax).”</p>

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