The GMB trade union shop stewards at a meeting yesterday in Manchester voted unanimously to ballot for a national strike in Asda Wal-Mart.
The GMB is determined to secure collective bargaining at the 20 distribution depots and to secure payment of the 2005 bonus and safe work rates.
GMB members to be included in the ballot work at Asda Wal-Mart warehouse depots including Bedford, Brackmills George, Chepstow, Dartford, Didcot, Erith, Falkirk, Grangemouth, Ince George in Wigan, Lymedale Staffordshire, Lutterworth in Leicestershire, Portbury in Bristol, Skelmersdale, Teesport, ADC Wigan, Wakefield and Washington.
GMB officials will shortly announce the date for the strike ballot to commence and the date the result will be declared.
On 11th April 2006, at a meeting in the House of Commons, GMB and Asda Wal-Mart arrived at an agreement covering recognition, bargaining rights and access for the union in the 20 distribution depots and access in the 302 stores.
GMB suspended the plans for an official strike ballot in the depots pending the drawing up of official written agreements.
However, the GMB said: ‘Events in the depots and stores following that meeting cast doubt on the reality of the agreement. Two meetings between the company and GMB on 28th April and 2nd May 2006 confirmed that the company was no longer prepared to deliver this deal.’
The outcome of the meetings was conveyed to the GMB shop stewards meeting in Manchester yesterday and they voted to begin the strike ballot process in all 20 depots.
GMB members then want to secure proper national bargaining with the company covering pay, conditions and union facilities in all 20 distribution depots.
They want to see Asda Wal-Mart paying a bonus after the company made £775 million profit in 2005.
The company unilaterally decided that the level of profit was too low to enable them to pay the site bonus of up to £300 per person.
GMB members in the depots are also unhappy with the unilateral introduction of new technology leading to higher work rates in the depots which health and safety experts say will seriously injure GMB members over a long period of time.
The national strike ballot was authorised by the GMB Central Executive Council on 27th February 2006 following a dispute that was provoked by the company at the Dartford depot.
This followed on from an earlier occasion in January 2005 when Asda Wal-Mart unsuccessfully sought a similar objective at their depot ADC in Washington Tyne & Wear when they offered the work force a 10 per cent pay rise if they would give up collective bargaining.
On 10th February 2006 an Employment Tribunal in Newcastle on Tyne penalised Asda Wal-Mart to the tune of £850,000 for attempting to induce employees to give up collective bargaining. The company have subsequently decided to appeal.
Jude Brimble, GMB National Officer for members working in Asda Wal-Mart said: ‘GMB have spent over 20 hours in talks with the company to try to find a satisfactory resolution of the items in dispute. We thought we had made progress but in the end we are back to square one.
‘GMB shop stewards told us quite clearly today that GMB members employed in the depots want to secure collective bargaining at the 20 distribution depots, the reinstatement of the 2005 bonus, and safe and healthy work rates.
‘Asda Wal-Mart is not prepared to accept that pay and condition agreements need to be fair and fairly arrived at. The unanimous vote by the shop stewards to re-instate the strike ballot demonstrates that the members will not settle for less.’
