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7/31/2019 Activist 34
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Tesco Attacks Staff Terms and Conditions
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the Activist Issue 34Bulletin of Socialist Party members in
As the Activist goes to pressthe news is spreading thatTescos have unilaterallydecided to make changes tothe bonus scheme for staff.This must cause concern forUSDAW reps and memberswho must question the value ofthe so-called partnershipagreement when Tesco keepignoring it. Below we print areport by a Tesco workerabout attacks on pay andpensions.
As public sector workers fightto defend their pensions byinspiringly taking strike action,one particular private sectoremployer has managed towaive through pension
changes without so much as aw h i m p e r f r o m t h eshopworkers' union Usdaw.
Tesco's recent pensionchanges mean that more than170,000 staff will have to workup to two years longer toqualify for their full pensionand new staff who are yet tojoin the pension scheme can
justly ask: 'Is the pensionscheme really worth it?' Tesco,who are the UK's biggestprivate sector employer, alsoplans to save money byincreasing staff pensions inline with the consumer priceindex (CPI) instead of the retailprice index (RPI) - a movewhich only affects futureservice but which will
nevertheless leave someworkers thousands of poundsworse off during their
retirement.
Tesco boaststhat it was oneof only fourFTSE 100companies thatstill has adefined benefitarrangement inplace. But thisargument is ash o l l o w a sa r g u m e n t sabout publics e c t o r pensions beingbetter thanp r i v a t es c h e m e s a n d s i m p l yconstitutes a race to the
bottom.
The supermarket chain isproposing to increase by twoyears - from 65 to up to 67 -the age at which a full pensionis paid. This affects pensionbuilt up after 1 June 2012.Tesco has said this does notmean staff will have to retireup to two years later - the
normal retirement age remains65, and staff can still apply toretire any time after 55, but inreality few Tescoworkers, on relativelylow-paid wages, will beable to retire 'early'.
Most insultingly of all,one of the reasonsgiven for the pension
changes, is the rise ofthe average l i feexpectancy to 80 plus. I
6th annual conference takes place onSaturday 9th June, Friends Meeting
House, Euston Rd, London - 11am-4pmSpeakers include:
Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary;Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary; and a
rank and file construction electricianSee www.shopstewards.net for info
Fresh from exploiting those on workfare, Tescos isnow attacking the conditions of its own staff
Contents
Page 1Tesco Attacks Staff Termsand Conditions
Page 2Twinings: The Best Place toWork?Letter: The Poor StarveWhilst Bankers Gets Bo-nuses
Page 3
Irish GAME Workers Sit-In:
Action Gets Results
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Pensionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Tescohttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Pensionshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Supermarkethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Supermarkethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Pensionshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Tescohttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Pension -
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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW
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doubt that life expectancy in thepoorer communities in whichmost Tesco workers live is thishigh. Most Tesco staff can nowonly look forward to a few yearsof retirement with less toprovide for themselves.
False promises
As if this wasn't a big enoughblow for any new staff in Tescothen a recent development overwages takes the biscuit. A spateof new stores opened in 2011,particularly in South Wales.
New starters at these storesstarted on a basic 6.65 hourlyrate and were told on numerous
occasions that this would rise to7.00 per hour after six months.
When the six month anniversaryhit though, the wage rise didn'toccur and staff were told itwould not occur until a year'sservice! The pathetic reasongiven was that no new storesopened between 2007 (whenthe change from six months to ayear occurred) and 2011 andthus the new stores weren'taware of the change and toldnew starters false information.
This bombshell for new startersis being challenged and foughtat a local level in conjunction
with the union, Usdaw. Howeverthis issue and the pension oneshows the dire need of a moremilitant Usdaw leadership whichis prepared to fight for itsmembers and stop Tescowalking all over us.
The will to fight is there in theworkforce with membersregularly professing a desire tostrike, we just wish we could beout there with the public sectorworkers, fighting for betterpensions too.
A Tesco worker
In Supermarkets there has been arise of 20% in meat theft. This hashappened as over the past year,the price of meat has gone up bymore than 6% and there has beena 1.2% fall in income.
A Netmums survey found that 1 in 5mothers regularly miss meals sothat their family can eat. People arehungry and not earning enough tobuy things.
Such is a contradiction of Capitalisteconomics that in times of crisispeople cant afford to buy what is
being produced and hence there isno creation of wealth. A charity hasfound that in 5 inner city schools inLondon, 70 - 80% of children don'talways have food at home or knowwhere their next meal is comingfrom.
Meanwhile the people who got usinto this mess, bankers andcapitalist politicians, continue toreceive bonuses and pay rises. I
bet they or their family don't gohungry.
Jamie, Wales
Back in 2010, theActivistandthe Socialistwere reporting onthe closure of the Twinningstea factories in Handover andNorth Shields with a loss of
400 jobs. A profitable companywas moving its production toPoland and China to makeeven greater profits.
Now in 2012, we read in GreatPlace to Work, a magazinedistributed with the Guardian,that Twinnings UK and Irelandhave come fourth in the Best
Workplaces 2012: Medium.The citation states, Twinningsstaff work hard to create theright conditions for everyone tomake a contribution, throughshared values and a teamethos.
Now they have only 118employees and we bet that the400 sacked workers would still
like to be working in the bestplace to work.
Twinnings: Best place to work?
Protest outside Twinings AGM in 2009
New pamphlet by
Robbie
Segal
Available
for 2
from
Socialist
Books
now
(020 8988 8777 )
Letter: The Poor Starve Whilst Bankers Get Bonuses
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Usdawhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Usdaw -
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As a result of the economiccrisis, various retail companieshave been closing their doors.In the UK weve seen tens ofcompanies enter administration(see box), and in 2011 alone 31separate companies involving2,469 stores and 24,025employees enteredadministration.
Although this is down from thepeak immediately after thebank bailouts in 2008, in therun up to May this year levelssimilar to the whole of 2011have been reached with 30companies involving 2,955 and36,531 employees affected.
This has devastated the lives of
many retail workers with tens ofthousands losing their jobs inthe last few years, alongsidethe trend towards part-time
working and erosion of termsand conditions. In the face ofthis, the best that USDAW hasmanaged in the face of such adeluge of store closures is the67.8 million settlement forformer Woolworths workers,albeit excluding those whoworked in stores with 20 or lessemployees. Whilst this shows
the value of being a member ofa trade union, it has taken 3years of legal wrangling to getthis settlement.
However over the water inIreland, previously unorganisedworkers in La Senza andGAME have responded to storeclosures by occupying theirstores to demand unpaid
wages and proper redundancypay.
The Activist has previouslycarried material on theoccupation of La Senza stores,as well as the consequences ofthat companys crisis in Britaintoo.
GAME is a specialist computergames retailer, mostly based inthe UK but also having 14 Irishstores. After the companyposted a profit warning inNovember 2011 the companiesshares nose-dived (reachingbelow 1p at one point) and thecompanies lenders entered intonegotiations to restructure thecompany. In March the
company suspended its sharesand on March 26th
suddenlyannounced the closure of its 14
stores in Ireland with the loss of121 jobs.
In response GAME workersoccupied 11 of the stores afterthey had been told to close thestores early as there were nojobs for them anymore. Theworkers were told to apply forstate redundancy, which wouldhave meant waiting for up to 18
months later than if GAMEthemselves were forced to pay.
Like at La Senza, GAMEworkers received huge supportfrom the public for theirdemands for their owed back-pay and fair redundancy pay.TDs (MPs), Senators andcouncillors all offered support,including those of the SocialistParty (whose TDs Joe Higginsand Clare Daly were mentionedby name in a message ofthanks to the occupierssupporters).
After several weeks inoccupation the workers won allof their owed wages, as well asan expedition of the time taken
to receive their back pay. Likeat La Senza, this shows whatcan happen when workers takeaction.
Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW
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Some of the RetailCompanies EnteringAdministration 2008-2011
Clinton Cards, Game, Borders,
Barratts, Alexon, T J Hughes,Jane Norman, Habitat, Focus DIY,Floors-2-Go, the Officers Club,Oddbins, Ethel Austin, FaithShoes, Adams Childrenswear,Thirst Quench, Stylo, Mosaic,Principles, Sofa Workshop, AlliedCarpets, Viyella, Dewhursts,Woolworths, MFI, and Zavvi/VirginMegastore.
Poster reads 1000s of jobs slashedwe just want what we are owed
Irish GAME Workers Sit-
In: Action Gets Results
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These disputes point to
important lessons for retail
union activists. We should not
simply let big business dictate
that our workplace is closing
and that we will be thrown onthe scrap heap. The
occupations at La Senza and
GAME show that if we fight we
can win.
With any company that declares
that it is struggling and makes
its hard working staff pay for
this, we should demand the
opening of the companys books
so we can see where the money
has gone. Any retailer that goes
into administration or liquidation
to avoid paying owed wages or
redundancy pay should be
immediately nationalised with
compensation only on the basis
of proven need.
Plans could also be drawn up to
keep the stores trading,
especially given several retail
companies have gone under
due to dodgy financing rather
than poor sales, or plans could
be drawn up to put the store to
an alternate use whilst
maintaining the employment of
existing employees. Althoughneither of these occupations in
Ireland raised demands to save
their jobs, as the crisis in retail
seems likely to deepen and
unemployment remains high this
issue will raise itself as workers
are impelled on the path La
Senza, GAME and othersworkers have been forced to
tread.
Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW
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La Senza workers won withheld pay after occupying theirstores that the company had closed without warning