Tesco 'extremely disappointed' with union's strike pledge

Tesco says it is 'extremely disappointed' with workers' union Mandate in their pledge this morning to strike on Thursday.

The union said that they were to strike after workplace relations commission (WRC) talks broke down.

In a statement from the union they say that the strike is 'avoidable', provided 'the company either withdraws their threats to force changes to pay and conditions of employment for their workers without agreement or attends the Labour Court for an impartial third party hearing.'

Mandate Assistant General Secretary Gerry Light said: 'Tesco management have failed to provide any evidence to justify making changes to workers’ conditions of employment without agreement, and that’s clearly why they haven’t agreed to attend the Labour Court. Mandate and Tesco not only have an agreement to attend the Labour Court in such circumstances, we have a long history of that practice being utilised successfully in the past.

'To say to a group of workers ‘we’re cutting your pay by up to 25 per cent and we don’t have to give you evidence or justify those cuts’ is a shameful way to treat workers who have built the company to what it is over more than twenty years. For us, and our members, the situation is very clear. Tesco are attempting to increase already significant profits at the expense of their longest serving workers.”

Tesco responded with a statement this afternoon, here it is in full:

'We are extremely disappointed with Mandate’s announcement that they will hold strike action on Thursday, May 26. Our stores and online service will open for business as normal on Thursday, May 26. As no changes in relation to the circa 300 colleagues on the pre-1996/97 contract have been made, we consider such action inconsistent with the ballot which only mandated action in the event we implement change.

'We deferred the proposed implementation date for this contract change to facilitate constructive discussions in the WRC, for which we have always been available, and we made no decision at the WRC about setting a new implementation date. Furthermore, only 30% of colleagues in affected stores eligible to vote actually voted in support of this action.

'Extensive discussions at the WRC over several weeks, including 18 hours yesterday, have failed to deliver progress on agreeing compensation for making this change to our pre-1996/97 contract that affect circa 300 out of our 14,500 workforce.  In the spirit of compromise, Tesco yesterday tabled new proposals at the WRC that address the feedback received from our colleagues in relation to the pre-1996/97 contract changes.

'We are disappointed that Mandate has rejected these proposals without giving their members the opportunity to vote. We have revised this offer further and we believe that colleagues should now have time to consider our new offer.  We are proposing these changes in order to improve our customer service at our busiest times of the week.  They will also deliver a fairer workplace.

'The new proposals give colleagues a number of options including compensation for a full contract buyout and compensation for partial buyout. The partial buyout option means that the vast majority of colleagues will not only retain their pay rate but actually benefit from a pay increase inclusive of the recent 2% pay increase; protects the guaranteed 5% share bonus award; awards a €3,000 lump sum payment and gives colleagues a 2% backdated payment to April 2015 in settlement of the 2015 pay claim. We have also reopened our voluntary redundancy scheme offering 5 weeks per year of service uncapped. We really hope that colleagues will see this as a genuine offer that addresses the concerns raised.'

Mandate's statement from this morning in full:

'Mandate Trade Union has announced that a strike of indefinite duration will take place in more than 70 Tesco Ireland stores from Thursday morning at 7am (May 26), following a breakdown in talks in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) early this morning.

'Mandate say the strike is avoidable provided the company either withdraws their threats to force changes to pay and conditions of employment for their workers without agreement or attends the Labour Court for an impartial third party hearing.

'Mandate Assistant General Secretary Gerry Light said: 'Tesco management have failed to provide any evidence to justify making changes to workers’ conditions of employment without agreement, and that’s clearly why they haven’t agreed to attend the Labour Court. Mandate and Tesco not only have an agreement to attend the Labour Court in such circumstances, we have a long history of that practice being utilised successfully in the past.

'To say to a group of workers ‘we’re cutting your pay by up to 25 per cent and we don’t have to give you evidence or justify those cuts’ is a shameful way to treat workers who have built the company to what it is over more than twenty years. For us, and our members, the situation is very clear. Tesco are attempting to increase already significant profits at the expense of their longest serving workers.”

'If the company thinks it can get away with this now, who will they target next? We have agreements with Tesco for conditions of employment for all workers at the company and there is a genuine fear that if Tesco feel they can start ripping up agreements for one group of workers, there will undoubtedly be serious implications for all other workers in the future,' said Mr Light.'

Earlier this month the elected members of Cavan County Council voiced their support for the 30 or so Cavan Tesco workers prepared to strike in the row.