LOWESTOFT, England — Some 175 workers struck the ASDA superstore in this small town 130 miles northeast of London May 10-11, the third strike in a campaign by General Municipal and Boilermakers union members against “toxic” conditions at the company. Similar strikes took place in the small rural towns of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and Gosport in Hampshire. In addition to working conditions, pay and union rights are at issue.
“The union is now organizing strike ballots at stores in north London,” regional GMB organizer Keith Dixon told the Militant. The supermarket giant employs some 145,000 workers in over 1,000 stores across the country.
The vote in favor of the two-day stoppage here was 90% with an 80% turnout. Over 50 strikers staged a lively banner-waving picket. Passing cars sounded their horns in support, which added to the blare of the pickets’ trumpets. “When we were walking nearby, we were drawn to the noise and fantastic turnout,” said local groundskeeper Justin Burgess. He and his friend Richard Carbonari donned GMB union vests and joined the picket in solidarity. “We shop here. We know what they’re going through,” Burgess said.
“At the center of the dispute are the deteriorating conditions,” Dixon said. “Workers who leave aren’t being replaced. And there’s a high turnover. Hours are being cut — which means increased workload and reduced pay.”
Also being challenged is the union’s right to bargain for the workers. The company says industrial action by the GMB is contrary to the “joint partnership agreement” the union has with ASDA.
Pickets said the company has a record of disciplining workers who speak to the press. On condition of anonymity, one told the Militant the reduced hours mean that “with the additional workloads colleagues are being forced to carry out, safety is a big issue. In March there was a raw sewage spillage in the store here for much of a day — only stopped by union action.”
Also bringing solidarity to the picket was London supermarket worker Pamela Holmes, a member of the Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers at a Tesco store and the Communist League parliamentary candidate for the Tottenham constituency. “We face the same issues of less staff hours and increased workload,” Holmes told the pickets. “Solidarity is key to building and strengthening the unions.”