Tesco Ireland has released a statement welcoming the decision of its staff in five stores, in Cork, Waterford and Arklow, to defy trade union Mandate’s call for strike action.
It says that the move by these five stores, out of the 18 balloted, should encourage Mandate to rethink its strategy, particularly as less than half of staff balloted across the stores voted in favour of strike action.
It adds, ‘It is disappointing that Mandate continues to seek to damage the company with strike action in a small number of stores on an issue which affects 250 people out of 14,500 working in Tesco.
'We still urge Mandate, even at this late stage, to accept the Labour Court’s Recommendation on changes to pre-1996 terms and conditions and call off its strike. It is our intention that all Tesco stores will open for business as usual next week.'
Tesco says that there is an ‘onus on Mandate to abide by the outcomes of the Labour Court after a Recommendation, which the Union themselves had sought’, calling the Recommendation as the only solution to the issue.
Meanwhile, Mandate has announced a second phase of industrial action at Tesco, with the news that five more stores have voted in favour of striking from 17 February.
It says that the retailer has never ‘satisfactorily justified’ its attempted change of the 250 contracts, and that as the issue is in dispute, Tesco should not change any workers terms or conditions until it is resolved.
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