Union’s arm-twisting works: Morrison agree to talks |
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Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:35
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LONDON: Food retailer William Morison hopes to avert industrial action after a discussion on pay and work conditions with unions tomorrow.
The management of the supermarket agreed to meet with representatives of the GMB and Transport & General Workers. Both the unions had planed a series of strikes by thousands of distribution workers across five Morrison depots.
The conflict began after union GMB discovered an internal company document which revealed the management’s intention to close three depots resulting in 2,500 job cuts.
The supermarket chain is struggling with growing expenses and rising costs since the £3.5 billion acquisition of Safeway Plc last year. The company has had to cut profit forecasts five times in less than a year and is looking at ways to reduce distribution costs.
In a bid to placate the unions, the management said it had conceded national bargaining, particularly because the five depots where the action was threatened, supplied 60 per cent of Morrison’s supermarkets.
The warehouses where the action was planned include the former Safeway centres, Bristol and Aylesford in southern England and Gadford Park, Warrington, Winnick Quay and Wakefield in northern England.
The supermarket ranks fourth among the UK’s biggest food retailers and employs a total of 150,000 people across 17 warehouses and 257 supermarkets nationwide.
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