Unite, the union representing 180 Doncaster-based delivery drivers who are facing redundancy, has said that it wants Tesco to step in and increase pressure on Eddie Stobart to reach a “reasonable settlement” in negotiations.
The drivers’ contracts were transferred to Eddie Stobart when the transportation group purchased Tesco’s Doncaster distribution centre in August. One month later, Eddie Stobart informed the drivers that their positions were to be eliminated.
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“We believe that this was a betrayal of a hard working workforce by Tesco,” a spokesperson for Unite told just-food. “Tesco have to bare some responsibility for what has happened.”
While Unite is currently in talks with Stobart management over redundancy terms, the union said that it wants Tesco to step in and use its weight to influence negotiations.
“We don’t think that Eddie Stobart are showing an appropriate degree of seriousness… Tesco, as Stobart’s client and the drivers’ former employer, could put pressure on Stobart to get it sorted,” the spokesperson said.
Unite plans to target Tesco by staging a demonstration outside a store in London tomorrow (31 October). The move will coincide with a three-day strike that will also begin shortly after midnight tonight and follows a previous two-day strike that was held earlier this month.
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By GlobalDataUnite said that it believes that the strike action has – and will – cause “quite a large and severe” disruption to Tesco deliveries in the Yorkshire and Humber regions.
