Argos warehouse worker strike set to escalate

The union has already carried out two one-day strikes over the issue – one in June and one on July 4.

Unite has timed the strike to impact the launch of the new Argos catalogue (it is launched twice-yearly).

Unite predicts that customers anticipating the new Argos catalogue – due to be launched on 26 July – will have their deliveries severely disrupted because of the aftermath of the strike.

The strike, starting at 06:00 on Saturday (19 July), will hit the company’s internal distribution centres at Basildon, Bridgwater, Castleford and Magna Park (Lutterworth, Leicestershire). The strike at Heywood (Greater Manchester) starts at 06.30. It will finish at the same times on Saturday, 26 July.

The union expects around 1,000 warehouse staff to strike in the dispute over terms and conditions, with workers complaining of increased weekend working, adversely impacting on family life.

Unite disputed the company’s contention that because the majority of the workforce had signed the new contracts, this undermined the industrial action.

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Unite national officer for road transport and logistics, Matt Draper said: “The reason that our members felt pressurised to sign these contracts is that they would have lost the unsatisfactory one-off payment of £2,000 to sacrifice their family life for many years to come.

“And if they continued to refuse to sign the contracts, they faced being sacked. They had the metaphorical gun put to their heads to sign.

“The crux of this dispute is Argos’ determination to push through a new 24/7 shift pattern, without offering our members a decent compensation package or make reasonable adjustments that would allow for a better work/life balance.

“It is going to cause havoc with childcare arrangements and mean spouses and partners will see much less of each other. It will seriously undermine the ‘work/life’ balance.

“Some of our members already work weekends, but that was agreed with Unite. The new proposals impact much more on family life.”

Draper urged the management to return to the negotiating table and relax the new strict criteria.

Response from Argos

In a statement to HSS, Argos said: “Argos has put in place thorough contingency plans to ensure a normal service for our customers during a forthcoming warehouse colleague strike.

“The strike relates to terms and conditions changes, which are necessary to match our services to customers’ shopping preferences. 

“Around 75% of our total Distribution workforce, including our drivers, are not striking.

“100% of our colleagues have accepted the terms and conditions of their individual contracts. We are also recruiting around 350 new permanent jobs in the distribution centres around the UK as part of the changes.

“We have conducted an extensive consultation exercise with Unite since November of last year concerning a genuine business need to alter working hours to best meet the needs of the business and its customers.

“Such change was required to bring about a much needed alteration to outdated working hours and to ensure the business has the flexibility to meet customer’s expectations and remain competitive.

“New shift patterns have been developed in partnership with our Unite employee representatives, with a focus on maintaining our colleagues’ work/life balance. As

100% of colleagues are on accepted terms and conditions we are now working hard to understand any outstanding issues.

“Distribution colleagues are key to the success of our five-year transformation plan to become a digital retail leader.”