Tesco in Ireland and unions heading for the Labour Court over pay rise

Amid the cost of living crunch, some good news for Tesco workers in the UK. Staff in its stores and fulfilment centres are to receive a 5.8 per cent pay increase following negotiations with unions. This will bring their hourly rate up to £10.10 (€12.10) from July 24th, which the unions claim is the highest in the sector. The total hourly rate for delivery drivers will rise to £11.

Coincidentally, at the same time as Tesco was announcing its agreement in the UK, workers in Ireland received an update on pay talks for employees in the Republic. Mandate is the biggest union at Tesco here and its members were informed that a hearing will take place at the Labour Court on May 17th following a failure to agree a deal at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

In December, WRC proposals were overwhelmingly rejected, which led to a new round of talks in January.

“Both Mandate and Siptu representatives attended the talks again on the 22nd February, 28th February and finally on the 9th March in effort to reach agreement. However, agreement could not be reached so in line with our procedural agreement with the company the claim was referred to the Labour Court,” the notice to Mandate members stated.

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The two sides appear to be several aisles apart. Tesco, it seems, has offered a 5 per cent rise, plus an offer to buy out certain premium payments that are made to staff.

Mandate has put forward increases of between 10 per cent and 17 per cent depending on which point in the pay scale a worker is at, with a minimum hourly rate of €12.90 for those at the bottom of the scale.

This is bang in line with the estimated level of the living wage and higher than the national minimum wage of €10.50. Every little helps.