Staff fury at B&Q shake-up

Shifts switch to days with no payoffs

WORKERS at DIY chain B&Q have accused the firm of denying them redundancy payoffs.

A total of 441 staff who fill shelves both before and after the store has closed are part of a wider proposed change of hours.

B&Q, owned by Kingfisher, says it has offered them the same number of hours, but during the day.

However, the Mirror has heard from staff who say they can’t do the new hours because they either look after family, have another job to make ends meet or have other commitments.

They claim B&Q has refused to offer those who can’t switch to days the option of a redundancy payout to soften the blow.

One affected B&Q employee, who has worked for the chain for more than a decade and who can’t do days because they are a carer, said: “With Christmas coming, I don’t know if I’ll have a job. I’ve given them all these years of service and now they treat me like this.

It’s callous.”

The 441 staff affected are in addition to 1,700 overnight workers facing an uncertain future.

They too have been offered day shifts under the consultation. But unlike their evening shift colleagues, they will likely get redundancy payouts if they can’t do them.

Most of those moving to days will also lose a £1.50-an-hour “unsocial hours” premium.

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh is due to grill B&Q bosses about the controversial changes at a meeting today.

She said: “I am extremely concerned that this process follows changes made by B&Q in 2016 when all staff lost their bonus scheme and Sunday premium pay.” A B&Q spokesperson said: “We are being as flexible as possible to accommodate colleague needs while balancing operational.”

The proposed changes were, they said, to “further increase the number of hours available to serve customers”.