UP TO 80 workers at Tesco in Douglas, Cork, are still on strike after they took to the picket line yesterday morning while management worked within the store.
Tesco is moving to a new store in the existing shopping centre tomorrow and seven workers in employment before 1996 say they will lose existing terms and conditions when the move goes ahead.
They will no longer receive entitlements such as premium payments for certain shift patterns, or have the right to work specific hours and certain Sundays. Joe O’Herlihy (47) from Douglas said Tesco’s offer of new working conditions would dramatically reduce his entitlements.
“Basically, I could lose everything I have built up working here over the past 31 years,” he said. “Everything I have given over the years and the commitments given to us, they want to take back. It would be like starting from scratch, as a young fella again.”
Mr O’Herlihy said he faced compulsory redundancy if the international retail chain’s new terms were not accepted.
Linda Harte, a mother of three from Douglas, said that while the strike was worrying financially, she planned to “stick it out.”
“It’s a terrible and worrying time for all of us. I’m working here 16 years and I work 25 hours over three days on a fixed schedule so I can look after my kids. But under the new terms, I won’t be able to do that in the new store. They want us to be flexible and to work any day they want us to.”
Tesco says it has referred the matter to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and is offering a generous package to workers while the matter proceeds through the commission.
“The issue relates to historical ‘guaranteed’ overtime levels which are no longer appropriate . . . The company has offered to pay the compensation in advance whilst the matter proceeds through the third party process,” a Tesco spokesman said.
Mandate, the union representing workers, said the company was asking workers to accept terms and conditions associated with the move to the new store before entering into the LRC process.