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Strike Action Needed to Save Jobs

at Tesco Distribution Centres

Find out more: usdawactivist.wordpress.com / [email protected] / Facebook: Usdaw Activist

the ActivistIssue 41

April 2013

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Real pressure needs to beapplied to Tesco from all angles todo the best for our members withall options looked at includingcoordinated industrial action withthe other sites affected.

The above words were written bySimon Vincent, an EC membersand a worker at the Harlow depot,which is threatened with closure.

His statement, that appears onthe Eastern Divisions Facebookpage, exposes the bankruptcy ofUsdaws so-called partnershippolicy.

The article states that theclosure , You can only concludethat the decision . . . based purelyon the fact that we enjoy some ofthe best terms and conditions inthe business . . . The Activist

warned this has been Tescosstrategy to undermine hardearned gains of decades of

struggle. The article then explainswhen Tesco opens a new site theterms and condition are some ofthe worst in the business.

We are informed that once thesesites are closed and the termsand conditions are history, theyare then reopened under newterms and conditions as withFenny Lock after making 800

redundant.

Simon calls for, Real pressureneeds to be applied to Tesco fromall angles to do the best for ourmembers with all options lookedat including coordinated industrialaction with the other sitesaffected.

The Activist supportSimons proposals but

calls for upon Usdaw totake immediate action.

1. Convene a conference for repsfrom all Tesco distribution centres

2. Organise a programme ofindustrial action to defend jobs,pay, terms and conditions in theaffected distribution centres

3. Initiate a campaign to bringpay, terms and conditions up tothe best levels in the warehouse &

distribution sector across allTesco distribution centres

4. Appeal to other unions in thesector to support such acampaign

Strike action by Unite members at Tescos Doncaster depot forcedTesco and Eddie Stobbart to concede more generous redundancypayments - action across the Tesco network could force more...

7th annual conference takes place onSaturday 29th June, Camden Centre,

Judd Street. London WC1H 9JE - 11-4See www.shopstewards.net for info

Tesco Attacks T&Cs - Coordinated industrial action demanded by USDAW EC member

Tesco have been in the news

recently for all the wrong reasons.

Firstly, the horsemeat scandal,

which we covered in the previous

issue of the Activist, but now also

the tagging of warehouse workers

in Ireland. Tesco has recently

announced plans to close its

Ha r l ow, Ch e s t e r f i e ld an dWeybridge distribution centres as

well as making job centres at two

others. On the first two pages of the

Activist we carry articles discussing

how a campaign can be developed

to stop the closure and defend all

jobs, as well as the threat from

tagging.

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW


Dear the Activist

Thanks for sending Robbie Segalspamphlet. Massive shame that (John)Hannett never read her words onDistribution. Tesco announce attackson workers at 7 distribution sites.Usdaw issues a press statement. Butdo nothing.

Robbie said that distribution centresshould not be left to be picked off oneby one. That is what seems to havehappened. Hannett open your eyes towhat is happening, Your partnershipstrategy is failing.

Jack, by email

Activist comment:

The points you make about Usdawsslavish support of partnership with themajor retail companies was the reasonRobbie and other on Usdaws left felt itwas essential that John Hannett waschallenged for the post of generalsecretary.

The issue of the attacks against thewell organised distribution centres wasraised by the Socialist Partysupporters back in 2007, when allTesco distribution sites were circulatedwith a leaflet calling for coordinated

action to defend terms and conditions.

During the 2008 Usdaw generalsecretary election, the matter wasagain raised. Robbies warnings wereignored.

A recent Usdaw press release, givingthe latest number of job loses,illustrates the dangers of Hannettspassive attitude towards all Tescosactions:

1. Closure of Harlow affecting 562 staff

2. Closure of Chesterfield affecting 343staff

3. Closure of Weybridge affecting 562staff

4. Reduction in staff numbers at Magorby 146

5. Reduction in staff numbers atWelham Green by 70

Usdaws response is to examine thebusiness case for these proposedchanges. Our members have the rightto ask is that all we are going to do.

And, surely we already know thebusiness case.

Usdaws leaders in 1998 argued for apartnership strategy that declared, Itmeans the union is consulted on awide range of issues and Partnershipmeans proper dialogue with the unionbefore decisions are taken.

Clearly, Tesco have a long termstrategy of weakening our membersT&Cs in distribution centres and overthe last decade have been slowlyimplement it, Whereas, Usdawsresponse is to examine the businesscase. As the emalier rightly points outYour partnership strategy is failing.The Activist considers it is about timethe industrial approach of partnershipis reassessed by the ADM.

Irish news has reported that Tesco atthe Donabate warehouse inDublin has come up with a new

gadget to monitor staff performance.The motorola device tracks staffmovement and records speed atwhich orders are picked from thewarehouse and also rates the speedof forklift drivers. It grades the staffbased on speed which raises levelsof competition in the workplacewhich will no doubt lead to increasedpressure on the mainly EasternEuropean workers to do as muchwork as possible.

The staff can turn it off when on theirlunch break but then it keeps rollingwhile you take a toilet break, drink of

water or need to stop during the shiftat any other time. Which means thatyour productivity score at the end of

the day will include any pauses.This could have an effect in unionorganisation (not to mention healthand safety concerns) if staff arerushing around preventing them fromcommunicating with others.

In the last five years the averagenumber of employees in a 40,000foot Tesco superstore has fallen by18%. This is partly due to themreplacing cashiers with self-service

tills and the introduction of schemessuch as the dreaded SYA (in 2004),its sickness and absence policy themost common reason for disciplinary

hearings, a scheme piloted by Tescoand then introduced into the publicsector. The workers are organised inSIPTU but pressure needs to be puton Usdaw to be on watch for similarpractices spreading to the UK.

Last years ADM saw widespreadopposition to the partnership strategy

Tesco Distribution & Partnership - A Letter

First workfare, now tagging, USDAWmust organise to defend workers

Tesco Warehouse Workers in Ireland Tagged

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Last week Thomas Cookannounced it would be closing 119Co-operative Travel and 76

Thomas Cook stores, closing itsAccrington call centre and making2,500 workers redundant (15% ofits workforce), as well as variousother attacks on terms andconditions. This comes on top of1,100 job losses, 149 storeclosures and the closure of itsBradford administration centre int h e l a s t y e a r .

Thomas Cook was nationalised in

1948 as part of the four majorrailways companies which werealso taken into public ownership,but was privatised in 1972, bought

by a consortium of Midland Bank,Trust House Forte and the AA.

To defend jobs at the company, itshould be brought back into publicownership, but this time underdemocratic workers control, withelected bodies of travel workersand customers to discuss anddecide how the company shouldp r o v i d e t r a v e l s e r v i c e s .

Whilst Unite and TSSA alsorepresent Thomas Cook workers,Usdaw has 1,200 members in Co-

operative Travel part of thebusiness. In its recent pressrelease, Usdaw states that it will doall it can to save its members jobs,without concretely spelling out what

action it can and will take ifnegotiations refuse to changeThomas Cooks position.

Four years ago workers occupied aThomas Cook office in Ireland tosave their jobs (see http://w w w . s o c i a l i s t w o r l d . n e t /eng/2009/08/0302.html). Whilst thisoccupation was eventual lydefeated and the jobs lost, it did setthe tone for future occupations byworkers losing their jobs at LaSenza, Game and HMV all ofwhom achieved signi f icant

concessions. Similar action, orstrike action, at Thomas Cookcould help build a campaign tosave jobs and re-nationalise thecompany.

Re-nationalise Thomas Cook to Save Jobs

Robbie Remembered at Socialist Party Congress

In early March the Socialist Partyheld its annual congress(conference) in Clacton on Sea. As

well as featuring three days ofdiscussion on the situation inBritain, the campaigns againstcuts and austerity and how to takethe Socialist Party forward, it alsofeatured a special session to paytribute to two leading SocialistParty trade union militants, one ofwhom was Robbie Segal.

The session was introduced by Bill

Mullins who paid tribute toRobbies activities in Usdaw,where she was almost a lone voiceat times on the EC arguing more amilitant strategy to defendmembers instead of the ever morefailing partnership strategy. Billrecounted on occasion at a TUCfringe meeting where Robbie washeckled by the then Usdawpresident and other leading

figures of the union for daring toquestion their misleadership.

Bill also recounted how, when

Woolworths enteredadministration, Newsnightcontacted Usdaws leadership tocomment on what was going on.However, they refused to do so asnot to upset the then Labour

government. Instead, Robbie wascontacted to appear and instantlydid so to offer a point of viewfrom retail workers that is too

often lacking in mainstreammedia. She put forward a genuineway forward to save the jobs of

Woolworths workers bydemanding the government takeWoolworths into public ownership.

At the Congress there was also ameeting for Usdaw members inthe party. This reviewed theprogress made in the last year bythe Activist, with its new attractivedesign. The Activist is now beingpublished bi-monthly with

occasional specials (3 wereproduced last year on theworkfare scandal, ADM and theTUC demo). Articles are also beingpublished between this on theActivist blogwww.usdawactivist.wordpress.com

More impressive is the growth ofUsdaw reps in the Socialist Partywhich has doubled in the last

year. We hope this will continueas we carry on the task of offeringan alternative to the failedstrategies of USDAWs leadership.

Robbie Segal - R.I.P.
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.htmlhttp://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/08/0302.html

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A month from now the TUCgeneral council will meet withplans for a 24 hour general strike

high on the agenda. At last yearsTUC congress in Brighton amajority backed the PrisonOfficers Associat ion whodemanded that the TUC considerthe practicalities of a generalstrike.

But plans for such action have yetto materialise mainly because ofopposition from some unions to

strike action and the specificdemand of a general strike.These include my own union,Usdaw, the shop workers union.

Whereas a large proportion of thetrade union movement in Britain,led by militant unions such as theRMT and PCS, believe thefightback against austerity shouldnow move onto the industrialplane with organised strike actionbeing called, some other unionshave raised objections ordeclared outright opposition.Along with Usdaw, Prospect andCommunity are two others whoare dragging their heels.

They put forward two mainreasons against strike action.Firstly that strike action wouldprove a distraction or give the

government a stick with which tobeat the unions with. Well quitefrankly, this allegation can becountered by simply saying thegovernment are already beatingus and its hurting very much! Thesecond excuse they use is thattheir members would not bewilling to take general strikeaction. As a shop steward andsomebody who works alongside

members every day unlike JohnHannett, the general secretary ofUsdaw, I can confirm there is

immense willingness to takestrike action as a means ofstopping austerity and fighting

back against employers.

Usdaw members looked in envyat public sector workers inNovember 2011 when they tookpart in one of the largest strikes inBritish history. The strike wasmainly in defence of pensions,whilst in contrast Usdaw meeklyaccepted a worsening pensiondeal from Tesco for its workers

without even consulting theirmembers, all we had was a letterthrough the door telling us thatthe union backs the change whichmeans workers work for longerand get less at the end.

I am frequently asked if we willtake strike action in my workplaceand comments like I think weshould all just go on strike, arenot uncommon either. It is truethat the confidence of the workingclass isnt at its highest andpeople are fearing for their jobsbut when the demand for a 24hour general strike is explained tomembers and the need for suchaction to defend workers againstgovernment and employer attacksthen members are willing to forfeita days pay as if things continuethey will lose a lot more in the

long term.

Tesco drivers in Doncaster whowent on strike last year aftertheir contracts were transferred to

Eddie Stobart, who offered thema s ta rk cho ice be tweenredundancy or taking new jobswith terms and conditions,showed the way as they went onan all out strike and wonimproved redundancy terms. Thelesson is that action works, if youtry you might win concessions, ifyou dont then you automaticallylose. We need to follow those

drivers and our brothers andsisters in the PCS and teachingunions who are taking strikeaction to fight back againstausterity and defend services andjobs such as Tesco distributioncentres which are under threat ofclosure.

Our unions should be leading thefightback against attacks onworking class people and raisingthe conciousness of theirmembers in how and why tochange society, I hope in April atthe TUC general council meetingthat the RMT and their allieswho have declared that a generalstrike call is a golden opportunityto reach out to working people,win the argument and that Usdawand other strike nay sayers listento their members and join

the fightback in earnest!

USDAW and the General Strike

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Labour Vote Defends

Workfare

Af ter ru lings in the cour tscondemned the Tories workfarelegislation they have rushedlegislation through parliament toretrospectively change the law torule out repayments of moneytaken from jobseekers in oftenarbitrary sanctions. Labourabstained , on the basis they hadextracted a measly concessionfrom the Tories of a report to

parliament . Only one of the Usdawgroup of MPs joined 43 otherLabour rebels to oppose the bill.We print a letter we received acopy of on this subject below onlyadding that the Activist believesthere is an alternative the TradeUnionist and Socialist Coaltion(www.tusc.org.uk) who recentlybeat a Labour-backed candidate ina town council election in Maltbynear Rotherham.

Dear Mr Esterton MP,

I'd like to thank you for being theonly one of the 29 MPs Usdawsponsors that actually voted inopposition to the governmentsrushing of the Job Seekers (Backto Work) Bill through parliamentthat is stopping the rebate ofsanctions taken from job seekers,

often for the most spuriousreasons. I have many friends whohave suffered at the hands of this,frustrated on being sent onpointless courses to teach themhow to write CVs etc, when theproblem is that there simply isn'tenough permanent, full time jobsout there where people earnenough money to live off.

Needless to say, I'm disappointedthat the other MPs sponsored bymy union didn't vote the same wayas you. When the workfare scandalbroke, members of our union werepretty clear at the divisional

conference I attended around thattime that we thought what thegovernment was doing, in trying tomake young people work for theirdole instead of creating real,permanent jobs for them, wasdisgraceful. The benefit sanctionsto bully unemployed people intoacceptance of this state of affairs isequally so. A political party thatwants to represent trade unionsand ordinary working people

should have voted in the same wayyou did, but instead I feel Labouras a whole have let me and manyother people down once again ason other issues like tuition fees, theIraq war, 10p tax rate, notrepealing the anti-union laws andseveral other issues that matter tome.

Justice for the

Shrewsbury 24

In 1972 building workers held anational strike for better pay andconditions. 5 months later, out ofthe blue, 24 activists in that strikewere dragged into court and sixwere sent to prison, including actorRicky Tomlinson who was then aplasterer

This was trade union victimisationof workers in dsipute, and sincethen have been fighting for justice.They currently have an e-petitionto gain access to documentsshowing this was a fit-up at http://e p e t i t i o n s . d i r e c t . g o v . u k /petitions/35394 - they need100,000 signatures before June27th. Please sign it.

Frustrations with lackof democracy in

USDAW

I read the article in the last Activist

on re-starting a branch with a

paper existence with interest. I

have had to deal with the right wing

tactics of the leadership myself. I

have been a rep for less than a

year and within my company we

have practically no facility time

unless it is to represent at

disciplinary or grievance hearing

and no branch meetings are held.

These are both tactics deployed in

order for democratic debate within

the membership to be suppressed.

While I am trying to have these

matters addressed, at the

beginning of December a memo

came round my company

explaining that after some tense

negotiations the between the

bosses and the union they werepleased to announce an offer of a

2% pay rise and the union were

recommending acceptance. The

memo also explained that the ballot

was to be started and ended within

2 weeks of the announcement

being made.

I was enraged by the fact that there

was no consultation with the

membership and that the short

ballot would not allow me to

campaign against this pay cut. I

realise 2% may seem good, but to

our low paid members this is 13

pence an hour. When you couple

this with the fact that the company

made an 65million profits of then

the workers deserve much better.

Mailbag

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Documents