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


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 )

[email protected]

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.



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.



La Senza workers won withheld pay after occupying theirstores that the company had closed without warning

Activist 34

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