Tesco has expressed disappointment at Mandate Trade Union’s announcement of strike action, set to take place at 70 of its stores for an indefinite duration of time from Thursday, 26 May.
The announcement was made after talks between Tesco and the trade union at the Workplace Relations Committee over contract changes collapsed after 18 hours.
In a statement issued today (24 May), the retailer said, "As no changes in relation to the c300 colleagues on the pre-1996/97 contract have been made, we consider such action inconsistent with the ballot, which only mandated action in the event we implement change."
"We deferred the proposed implementation date for this contract change to facilitate constructive discussions in the WRC, for which we have always been available, and we made no decision at the WRC about setting a new implementation date."
It added that only 30% of its colleagues in affected stores eligible to vote actually voted in support of the industrial action, and that Tesco has also proposed a number of new options for staff affected by the contact change.
"We are disappointed that Mandate has rejected these proposals without giving their members the opportunity to vote. We have revised this offer further and we believe that colleagues should now have time to consider our new offer," it said.
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan.
