Mandate Trade Union, which represents some 10,000 workers at retailer Tesco's Irish operations, have announced that a further five stores have voted in favour of industrial action, with employees set to go on strike on Friday, 17 February.
This follows the decision by nine stores to strike next Tuesday, 14 February, over claims that the retailer is 'attempting to change the contracts of employment of over 250 of their longest serving workers without agreement and imposing new contracts which include cuts to pay and conditions at work', the union said.
In response, Tesco said that it was 'disappointing that Mandate continues to seek to damage the company with strike action in a small number of stores on an issue which affects 250 people out of 14,500 working in Tesco'.
The retailer urged the union to accept a recommendation issued by the Irish Labour Court on changes to the terms and conditions for the affected workers, and call off its strike.
'That Recommendation remains as the only solution to this issue,' the retailer said.
Tesco Ireland also 'welcomes the decision of our staff in five stores – in Cork, Waterford and Arklow – to defy Mandate’s call for strike', adding that the stores in question did not have a ballot on industrial action.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up for ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
