// Tesco could face ‘stock shortages’ this Christmas as threat of strike action widens over a pay dispute
// If the strike goes ahead more than half of Tesco’s 22 distribution centres will be impacted
Workers across a further nine Tesco distribution centres have voted to strike the week before Christmas alongside staff at Antrim, Belfast, Didcot and Doncaster.
Widened strike action in the run up to Christmas by Tesco distribution centre staff follows a vote by 5,000 members of the grocer’s worker’s union Usdaw, which saw 73 per cent and 84 per cent of staff support industrial action across two ballots.
As a result, Tesco workers across nine further sites in Daventry, Goole, Hinckley, Lichfield, Livingstone, Magor, Peterborough and Southampton have joined the existing strike by four other warehouses and rejected Tesco’s 4 per cent pay increase, which they argue is below inflation.
READ MORE:Tesco distribution workers to strike in run-up to Christmas
If the strike action goes ahead, now more than half of Tesco’s 22 distribution centres will be impacted.
Staff at these warehouses are set to walk out from December 20 until Christmas Eve if the Big 4 supermarket chain does not improve its pay offer.
“Our members have sent a clear message, with this high turnout and strong support for industrial action,” said its national officer, Joanne McGuinness.
“We hope that the company is listening and that they will return to the negotiating table with a better deal that is acceptable to our members.
“Retail distribution workers are key workers who delivered essential services throughout the pandemic, which in turn delivered a 16.5 per cent increase in profit to Tesco for the first half of the year.
“These workers deserve a decent pay rise as their reward for what they have done and continue to do day in, day out; couple that with the rising cost of living and inflation currently running at 6 per cent, the company needs to do better.”
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