Asda workers strike: what has happened and can it be fixed?

Union members at Asda’s Gosport store staged a 48-hour walkout last week, as the supermarket faced the first strike in its history.

However, worryingly for Asda, it may not be the last as its Wisbech, Brighton Marina and Hollingbury stores are all being balloted for strike action right now.

The GMB has termed the working environment as “toxic” in the Gosport store, the first to contact the union about any issues.

The union sent the grocer what it termed a “litany of grievances” from workers in store, including claims of wage errors, pressure to work extra shifts, and “numerous fire safety complaints, including fire exits being constantly blocked”.

However, Asda insists the claims made by GMB, including those of health and safety and bullying in stores, are unsubstantiated, and has said that it has repeatedly asked GMB to provide evidence, but it has not yet received this.

An Asda spokesperson added: “Providing a safe working environment is of paramount importance to us and if colleagues have any safety-related concerns we would ask these are brought to the attention of a manager immediately so they can be investigated and promptly resolved.”

The grocer also points out that the GMB represents “a minority of colleagues in Gosport” and highlighted that 46 of the store’s 225 colleagues voted for industrial action. “Most colleagues are not members of the GMB and will work as normal during this period. As a result, the store will open as usual this weekend,” the spokesperson added.

However, the grocer has put actions in place, including a full health and safety review of the Gosport store, and is providing additional training for colleagues when required.

The disputes also revolve around the staff’s alleged treatment at the hands of store management, including claims of pressure to work extra shifts, according to the union.

GMB regional organiser Nicola Nixon tells Grocery Gazette that one of the biggest issues in the store is due to there being a lack of staff.

“The impact this is having in the stores is that we have deliveries left out in the warehouse because there’s nobody to put them on the shop floor, we then have issues of customers complaining that the shelves are empty and our members are feeling the brunt of this,” she says.

Whilst not necessarily representative of its 800-plus stores, which employ some 150,000 staff, several workers from other Asda branches have flagged their concerns.

One employee, who has worked at Asda for the past 22 years, says: “There are days when I am doing three jobs at once – running checkouts, doing parcels, running scan and go, and trying to help in the trolley and basket shop all without a manager or section leader.”

Another worker with over 30 years experience at the retailer says: “The last two years have been the worst I have ever experienced. Even basic processes are not getting done because there are no staff to do them.”

Nixon adds: “Members would actually like to see more staff employed so that they can do their job properly. Everyone feels that they’re run ragged and Asda need to put more resources in.”

However, the supermarket said that hours across Asda’s stores are broadly in line with where they have been historically, although it does admit there has been a slight 3% reduction in hours in January 2024 compared to the previous year at the Gosport store.

More strikes on the cards?

The GMB has flagged that the grocer could face more potential strikes at its Wisbech store, where once again complaints centre around an alleged cut in hours and “management bullying”, and in two Brighton stores in Marina and Hollingbury.

The Brighton stores sent a dossier of more than 20 issues to Asda management, which the union said includes complaints such as a lack of hours, poor contracts, issues around health and safety not being dealt with in a timely manner, staff training not being fit for purpose, and a high turnover of staff.

The Asda spokesperson points out that it has “established processes in place for colleagues to raise any issues or concerns they may have” and says that in the case of the Wisbech and Gosport stores, it had not received any formal complaints relating to the claims made by the GMB.

Consultative ballots gauging support for strike action at all three stores have now ended and Brighton Marina saw a 98% turnout on its ballot, with 94% in favour of moving to a formal industrial action ballot, according to the GMB.

Nearly 400 GMB members are now voting on whether to take strike action at the Wisbech and Brighton stores, with the new ballots running from 16 February until 5 March.

GMB national officer Nadine Houghton says: “An estimated eight million hours have been cut from the shop floor in the past two years alone, reducing staff costs by up to tens of millions of pounds.

“Meanwhile the Issa Brothers and TDR Capital continue the asset stripping of Asda at pace.

“GMB members want to know why they are being forced to do more work with fewer colleagues and worsening health and safety standards, while Moshin Issa spends millions on mansions and private jets.”

An Asda spokesperson says that “while any potential disruption is unwelcome,” it is “confident this can be managed and these stores will remain open as normal for our customers.”

“This was demonstrated recently in Gosport, where fewer than 30 colleagues participated in industrial action.”

Asda looks to tackle complaints

Since late December, Asda has met with the GMB on several occasions, including mediation at ACAS, to try and agree a resolution at Gosport.

Alongside the health and safety review and additional training, the grocer did put forward proposals to tackle some of the complaints made about the store and avoid a strike.

However, 68% of the 84% of GMB members that voted on these plans rejected them, and Asda “failed to come back with any improvements”, according to the GMB.

Nixon said: “Our members are determined to stand up to Asda and their management and say enough is enough. They should be able to come to work without threat of bullying or putting their health, safety and well-being at risk.”

Elsewhere, Asda has been making other changes to improve the working experience of some store managers. It emerged last month that it had been trialing a four-day working week and a “variety” of new working patterns for managers at 20 stores from September last year.

The Telegraph said the move, which also includes more flexible working arrangement such as shorter shifts, comes as the grocer attempts to “rebuild relations with senior employees”, which it said were “leaving in their droves”.

The newspaper reported that there had been a 13.9% increase in turnover among retail managers in 2022 and quoted an internal Asda presentation last year that said this had “impacted the stability and capability of our teams in store which in turn has impacted the colleague experience and by extension our customers”.

However, an Asda spokesperson told Grocery Gazette points out that it has actually seen “a 6% reduction in general colleague turnover between 2022 and 2023,” adding that it has “invested a total of £325m in increasing pay for both store-based and logistics colleagues since 2022”.

GMB national officer Nadine Houghton says: “Asda has been forced to accept that all is not well amongst their managers and are attempting to address some of the issues by trialling a reduction in managers’ weekly working hours.”

However, the grocer insists that the four-day week came as a result of flexible working having become “commonplace in retail leadership in recent years”.

The spokesperson added: “We are keen to test and learn different ways of working that benefit our colleagues and business. While we are still evaluating the results of this trial, the feedback from participating colleagues has been very positive.”

Asda’s overall workplace happiness score does sit slightly (2%) below the industry level at 65% and 7% below the global average, according to WorkL – the world’s largest live workplace happiness database, which was founded by former Waitrose managing director Mark Price.

Its flight risk – the percentage of employees who have a high chance of leaving in next nine months – was 36% , 4% above the industry average and 12% above the global average.

In comparison, the flight risk is slightly smaller for Asda’s main competitiors, with Tesco at 32% and Sainsbury’s at 33%.

Flexible working practices does represent a step forward for the retailer in boosting the working experience for store managers. However, the scenes of shopworkers holding placards at Gosport today are sad to see. Asda will hope this is an isolated incident rather than a sign of things to come.