Morrisons has warned of disruptions as nearly 1,000 warehouse workers walk out for the next three days in a dispute over pensions.
Employees at the supermarket’s distribution centres in Gadbrook, Cheshire, and Wakefield, West Yorkshire who have begun the first of two strikes, claim the cut in pension contributions is worth up to £10m a year.
Warehouse stock controllers, cooks, canteen staff, and administrators at the depots, who earn between £12 and £13 an hour, say they will lose out by an average of £500 a year each as supermarket chain plans to reduce how much it puts into their pension pot while forcing workers to pay more.
Morrisons moved to a new policy at the start of this financial year where it and its employees both paid 4% into the pension pot, instead of the previous 5% and 3% split.
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Unite union has accused Morrisons of “planning to fleece workers” as it says the supermarket is also ditching a long service pay award and increasing the speed at which goods are expected to be processed.
The retailer said it would ultimately pay more into workers’ pensions because of the government’s planned changes to pension auto-enrolment rules, and that the loss in pension contributions per worker would be more than offset by the offered pay rise.
The supermarket chain told The Guardian that the two warehouses affected by industrial action were continuing to operate but at “reduced capacity”.
“We have put in place detailed contingency plans across the business and are confident that our customers, stores, suppliers and partners will not be significantly affected,” a spokesperson said, adding that the supermarket was “open to further dialogue with the union”.
They said: “We have made a number of new proposals to Unite, including a 9% pay award, a new service award scheme, and improvements to the planned future pension scheme changes.
“Disappointingly, Unite has chosen to reject these new proposals without putting them to its members, and instead are continuing with strike action at two out of our seven logistics sites, initially over three days.”
The strikes at Morrisons’ depots come amid a slew of industrial action across the industry over working conditions, pay and pensions, with Amazon warehouses and several Asda stores hit by staff walk outs.
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