Hundreds of workers for the supermarket chain Morrisons could be
heading to the picket line after their employer forced through
changes to their pensions that will leave them worse off by
around £500 a year.
Approximately 1,000 Unite members working as warehouse stock
controllers, cooks, canteen staff, and administrators are being
balloted for strike action to protect their pensions and take
home pay.
Staff are based in warehouses in Cheshire and Wakefield and
perform essential roles that ensure lorries are loaded and
shelves are filled in the nearly 500 supermarkets and convenience
stores run by Morrisons.
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 in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. Its flagrant
profiteering and then cutting our members' take-home
pay is a disgrace.”
Workers are being forced to increase their own pension
contributions while the supermarket giant reduces its own
contributions by the same amount. This will result in workers
being significantly worse off in their pay packets and see
Morrisons pocket the extra money despite already making nearly a
billion pounds in profits. [1]
Additional changes that workers are being compelled to adopt
include a new, unpopular “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: “Our
members provide a vital service ensuring supermarket shelves are
full. Yet Morrisons have decided to unilaterally impose
changes to their pensions that will leave them worse off and
changes to the conditions that no one wants.
“Morrisons need to see sense and reverse these
changes or they will see the anger of our members on the picket
line.”
The ballot for Unite members opens today (18 April) and will
close on 9 May. Should the ballot be successful, and if no
concessions are made by the employer, industrial action will take
place this spring and summer.