Tesco is to face strikes at one of its depots, as cleaning and catering staff have been put on new contracts without a pay increase.
According to Unite the Union, the dispute involves workers based at the depot in Didcot, Oxfordshire, who are employed on an outsourced contract, with facility management company Atalian Servest refusing to negotiate over a pay increase.
The cleaners at the UK’s largest retailer are currently on pay rates of £11 an hour, which includes weekend and bank holiday work at no additional rate, while the catering staff are paid the minimum wage of £10.42 an hour.
The workers who are members of the UK’s leading union have announced two initial 24 hour strikes beginning on Friday 1 September and Thursday 7 September, followed by a three day strike beginning on Friday 15 September and a further three day strike beginning on Thursday 21 September.
According to its latest accounts for 2021, Atalian Servest made a gross profits of £84m.
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Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Atlalian Servest can fully afford to give our members a decent pay rise, its failure to do so is a cynical attempt to further boost its profits at the expense of its workers.
“Unite is entirely focussed on the jobs, pay and conditions of its members and the workers at Atalian Servest in Didcot will be receiving Unite’s complete support,” she said.
Unite regional co-ordinating officer Scott Kemp noted that strike action “will inevitably result in a dirty depot and the closure of the canteen”, however argued that this dispute is “entirely due to the pig-headed manner in which Atalian Servest has refused to even engage with Unite over a pay increase for our members”.
The news comes as Tesco has become the first major UK supermarket to grant staff flexible working rights in its supermarkets.
