A strike at more than 70 Tesco stores across the country is to go ahead next Monday, the trade union Mandate has said.
The dispute centres on what the union has said are unilateral moves by management at the company to worsen the terms and conditions of longer-serving personnel.
In a statement Tesco said its stores and online service will open for business on Monday as usual.
It was disappointed with the annoucement and remained “committed to reaching agreement on this issue and had “formally tabled a generous proposal for compensation for colleagues in scope.”
The company is seeking to move staff employed before 1996 to a contract introduced for personnel taken on after that date. Mandate said on Wednesday that this would involve changes to workers’ conditions of employment including:
* 15-35 per cent pay cuts.
* reduction of overtime.
* cuts to Sunday and unsociable hours premiums from double pay to time and a half.
* a reduction in the annual bonus.
* changes to rosters.
Tesco has said previously that 70 per cent of staff employed before 1996 had agreed to accept a recent offer of voluntary redundancy.
This involved payment of 5 weeks per year of service uncapped. For pre-1996 staff who did not opt for redundancy, Tesco said it would pay compensation equal to 2.5 times the annual loss of income experienced by moving to the new contract.
Mandate said that pickets would be placed on more than 70 Tesco outlets across the Republic of Ireland “following the company’s confirmation that they will be implementing pay cuts and changes to conditions of employment for up to 300 of their staff on Monday morning”.
The union said Tesco could 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.
Gerry Light, Mandate assistant general secretary said: “Tesco management are forcing changes to contracts for workers employed before 1996. 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.”
“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.”
Mandate said that many Tesco workers had phoned the union in tears “over the treatment they are receiving from the company”.
“Reports from members say they are being pressured into leaving the business or face the prospect of severely reduced living standards.”
Mr Light said; “Despite the anxiety and stress perpetrated by the company on their own employees, hundreds of our members have remained in the business and are prepared to fight to maintain their conditions of employment.”
He said that more than 99 per cent of pre-1996 staff had voted to take industrial action in a ballot last month.
“Last Sunday 88 per cent of their colleagues in pre-1996 stores not affected by the cuts balloted in favour of supportive industrial action.”
“earlier this week we formally tabled a generous proposal for compensation for colleagues in scope
We’re disappointed with Mandate’s announcement that they will hold strike action on Monday. We remain committed to reaching agreement on this issue and earlier this week we formally tabled a generous proposal for compensation for colleagues in scope. We need to make this change in order to improve our customer service at our busiest times of the week. Our stores and online service will open for business on Monday as usual.
