Ten Dunedin Mitre 10 employees, four with more than a decade's experience, may be made laid off within weeks with no redundancy.
First Union Dunedin organiser Shirley Walthew said the employees had been told this week if the plan went ahead, they would be out of a job by early to mid-September.
``It's very short notice.
``Of course this company, they don't pay redundancy.''
Mitre 10 owner Martin Dippie responded the company placed a high priority on the wellbeing of its nearly 200 employees.
``The changes proposed to our structure have been undertaken after careful consideration to ensure that we have the most appropriate rosters in place and to reinvest into overall payroll across all team members.''
Ms Walthew said the company had talked about ``individual discussions about redundancy''.
``One of the questions we've got is are they going to talk with us, and negotiate redundancy for our members?''
The union and the company have been in court twice over the last four years trying to put a collective agreement in place.
The agreement is still not in place, and the two parties are due back in court on October 19.
Ms Walthew said members had contacted the union saying they had received a document, ``supposedly a consultation''.
The document had identified employees who would have their roles disestablished.
``They've actually stated the names. It's very targeted.''
The union had written to the company asking for specifics, more information, and what they were basing their proposal on.
It had also sent a letter documenting its concern about the process.
``We are asking them to stop the process at the moment because we don't think it's the right way to have consultation''.
Ms Walthew said the jobs targeted were in the retail area.
The documents were delivered to employees this week. Employees were given a week to consider the proposal, and the new structure was expected to be in place from early to mid-September.
In the document the company said it wanted to ``continue to retain and attract the best people''.
It said the company's business model needed to be sustainable.
The footprint of the store had grown, and after completion of capital projects the company had a better understanding of trading patterns seasonally.
Mr Dippie said the decision to make changes was not arrived at lightly, and ``we consider them necessary to stay competitive in a challenging marketplace''.
``We are committed to working with team members affected by the changes and assisting with efforts to find new employment.''
