TRADE UNION Mandate is to serve strike notice on 19 Tesco Ireland stores in a dispute over cuts in working hours for staff.
The strike action will initially take place on July 2nd, followed by two further days on July 9th and 10th. The union said further strikes could follow. However, Mandate also said that it was available to meet the company in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Mandate said the row centred around the company breaching an agreement made in 2006 on workers’ hours. It also maintained that Tesco was using the recession as a means to reduce the living standards of workers in the pursuit of extravagant profit margins.
Linda Tanham of Mandate said the cutbacks to hours mean some members are losing out on up to €100 per week.
The Tesco stores involved in the threatened strike action are: Arklow, Ashbourne, Bloomfield, Carlow, Crumlin, Gorey, Greystones, Killarney New Street, Longford, Naas, Navan, Newbridge, Omni (Santry, Dublin), Poleberry, Rathfarnham, Roscrea, Roxboro, Tralee Manor and Wicklow.
Meanwhile, talks between management and unions at Bus Éireann on a cost-containment plan aimed at generating €25 million in savings over the next 18 months have run into trouble in a row over the appointment of temporary drivers.
A final set of talks on the cost-reduction plan was scheduled to take place today.
However, Siptu said yesterday that it would not be attending this meeting until the situation regarding the appointment of about 40 drivers, whose probationary period with the company had expired, was addressed.
Bus Éireann said that it found it “regrettable” the final meeting with trade unions for discussions on the company’s cost recovery plan would not now go ahead.
Some sources suggested that the company could indicate that it would move to implement cost containment proposals unilaterally if there was no agreement.
Under the controversial cost-reduction plans put forward by the company, about 320 jobs at the company would go and 150 vehicles would be removed from its fleet. About 50 routes faced being scrapped or having frequency reduced.