Retail trade union Usdaw has said it is “angry and disappointed” by Morrisons refusal to accept any counter proposals to its pension scheme reform.
The union said the supermarket giant has now been informed of Morrisons’ intentions to move forward with its original proposals to change its pension policy.
While the pension contribution currently sees Morrisons provide 5% and its employees 3%, the grocer recently announced it will switch this to 3% from the employer and 5% from its workers.
Elsewhere, the retailer has reformed its pension initiatives by reducing its life cover and also scrapped its company-wide bonus to employees hitting milestones after 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service, only retaining the 25-year award.
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While Morrisons has since announced other measures in which it investing in staff – including colleague discounts, maternity benefits, and flexible working – the union has called out the grocer‘s actions as “negatively impact[ing] thousands of staff”.
Usdaw national officer Darren Mathews said: “After a series of consultation meetings with Morrisons, it is deeply regrettable that they are pressing ahead with proposals to seriously reduce the terms of the pension scheme.
“The company claims that these changes are due to upcoming Government reforms, despite the fact that there has been no actual timetable announced for these changes.
“As such we do not believe that Morrisons need to make these changes and we are not aware of any other retailers who are looking at similar reforms.
“While Morrisons are making some minor improvements to other staff benefits, the loss of the Long Service Award on every fifth anniversary will negatively impact thousands of staff. This is a change that we were neither consulted on nor advised of ahead of the announcement.
“We are angry and disappointed that Morrisons has not accepted any of our counter proposals and we will be looking at every measure available to us to persuade management to review their position and come back with a fairer offer.”
Grocery Gazette has contaced Morrisons for comment.
1 Comment. Leave new
how low can morrisons go to take from the dead l, how often does a person die in service also the so called improvements probably doesn’t apply to 75% of yhe work force as they won’t be having babies.