Staff at Morrisons warehouses in Cheshire and Wakefield have voted in favour of strike action following balloting by Unite members.
Nearly 1,000 Unite members who work at the warehouses voted on action over changes to pension contributions made by the retailer that the union claims will leave members £500 worse off.
They will be striking from 5am on Thursday 23 May until 5am on Sunday 26 May and then again from 5am on Thursday 13 June until 5am on Sunday 16 June, and the members work as warehouse stock controllers, cooks, canteen staff, and administrators for the two sites that service Morrisons supermarkets and convenience stores.
Commenting on the decision, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is focussed on our members’ jobs, pay and conditions and these unmerited changes to workers’ pensions will leave our members worse off every month.
“Unite will not stand for such behaviour from any employer, let alone one like Morrisons who is raking in massive profits during a cost-of-living crisis. Its flagrant profiteering and then cutting our members’ take-home pay is a disgrace.”
The union also criticised the introduction of a “pick rate” (the speed at which items are packed from the warehouse shelves), the removal of a service award, enforced changes to jobs roles and a failure to correctly follow absence policies.
Unite national officer Adrian Jones added: “Despite our best efforts over a number of meetings, it seems that Morrisons are not interested in resolving this dispute as they have refused to negotiate over the changes to our members’ pensions and long service awards. Along with several other issues we have attempted to get management to see sense and find a way forward but to no avail. Morrisons will now witness the anger and ill-feeling of our members when they see them on picket lines outside their warehouses.”
Morrisons has been approached for comment on the strike action.
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