Big W Enterprise Agreement 2026: What Actually Covers Big W Workers

Not a national store one. Unlike sister brand Woolworths Supermarkets, there is no current national Big W store enterprise agreement on the Fair Work Commission's register of approved agreements. The approved BIG W agreements on the register are site-specific:

• Perth BIG W Enterprise Agreement 2025 — Woolworths Group, approved December 2025, nominal expiry 31 October 2028
• BIG W Hoxton Park Distribution Centre Enterprise Agreement (NSW) — approved November 2024, nominal expiry 31 July 2028
• BIG W Warwick Distribution Centre Enterprise Agreement 2024 (Qld) — approved May 2024, nominal expiry 31 July 2027

If you work in a Big W store outside the Perth agreement's coverage, the reference point for your minimum pay is the General Retail Industry Award (MA000004) — the same award that covers Kmart and Target. Your payslip or contract will name whatever instrument applies to you; if it names an agreement, look it up on the register, and if it doesn't, the award rates are your floor.

Big W is owned by Woolworths Group, but the Woolworths Australian Food Group Agreement 2024 covers the supermarkets business — it is not a Big W agreement.

An enterprise agreement must leave employees better off overall than the award (the BOOT), so workers under the Perth store or DC agreements should compare their package against the award, not just single line items. The award floor from 1 July 2026 is $27.81/hr for a permanent adult Retail Employee Level 1.

For the current verified hourly rates by age and employment type — including junior percentages and weekend penalties — see our Big W pay rates 2026 page, and check the floor with the retail award pay rate tool.

Whether you're on the award or a site agreement, the checks are the same: your base rate matches your classification and age, weekend, evening and public-holiday shifts show penalty rates, casual loading sits on top of the base, and junior rates step up from the first full pay period after your birthday. Woolworths Group's history here matters — its 2021 Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman covered over $571 million in self-reported underpayments across its banners, and that program has closed, so anything recent you have to catch yourself.

If a payslip looks short, run it through our underpayment checker — you can generally recover up to six years of shortfall.

The Perth store agreement runs to 31 October 2028, Hoxton Park DC to 31 July 2028, and Warwick DC to 31 July 2027 — so the Warwick DC will likely bargain first. As with any enterprise agreement, passing the nominal expiry date doesn't end an agreement: it keeps operating until replaced or terminated by the Commission.

The three BIG W agreement pages linked above carry summaries and key dates, and you can search "Big W" in our enterprise agreement library or on the Fair Work Commission's Find an Enterprise Agreement register. For how agreements work generally — and why an expired agreement still applies — see our guide to enterprise agreements in Australia.