Strike action planned at Tesco stores

Strike action is due to begin at over 70 Tesco stores in Ireland on Monday next due to a dispute over changes to pay and conditions of long-serving staff.

The Mandate trade union say that pickets will be placed on the Tesco outlets after the company confirmed it would be implementing the cuts affecting up to 300 staff on Monday morning.

The union say Tesco have the capacity to prevent the strike by withdrawing their threat to cut workers’ wages without agreement or by attending the Labour Court for a hearing on the matters in dispute.

Mandate said Tesco management were attempting to force through changes to workers’ conditions of employment, including pay cuts of 15-35%, cutting overtime, cuts to premium payments for working Sundays and unsociable hours, a reduction in the annual bonus, and changes to rosters.

The changes, which affect workers with more than 20 years’ service, were described as “disgraceful” by Mandate.

“These changes will seriously undermine living standards for our members who have mortgages and other commitments which were made on the back of their conditions of employment over the last 20-30 years,” said Gerry Light, Mandate’s assistant general secretary.

“Tesco is an extremely profitable employer making more than €200 million in profits in the Republic of Ireland, and now they’re attacking the very people who built the company to what it is today.”

More than 99 per cent of pre-1996 staff voted to take industrial action in a ballot last month.

Last Sunday 88pc of their colleagues in pre-1996 stores, not affected by the cuts, balloted in favour of supportive industrial action.

Mr Light said: “Tesco’s actions are a worry for all of our members in the company.

WThey are tearing up contracts of employment and implementing changes without agreement and if they get away with doing this to their longest serving members of staff, who will be next?”

Pickets are due to be placed at more than 70 Tesco stores throughout Ireland from 7am on Monday, and the union said the pickets would remain in place until Tesco Ireland reverses the cuts or confirms its attendance at the Labour Court.