Supermarket staff say they were forced to cancel festive party
STAFF at a Gloucestershire branch of Sainsbury’s claim they were ordered to cancel their Christmas party despite Government guidance saying it could go ahead.
The request from bosses to change plans came after the outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid – but before an email stating they could be postponed was sent out.
According to a staff member at a Gloucestershire branch of Sainsbury’s, there was no mention of postponement in the initial Christmas party announcement on November 30, instead that it needed to be cancelled “due to the current coronavirus situation”.
The message stated that “all events arranged that involved colleagues meeting socially must be cancelled”, including any locally arranged drinks and meals.
As a result, staff members had to cancel their Christmas meal, which had already been booked.
One employee who works at a county branch of Sainsbury’s said: “I’m all for keeping colleagues and members of the public safe but it seems it’s alright for us to mingle at work and be around each other, but not in our own time.
“I don’t have a problem with wearing a face covering, but cancelling parties isn’t in line with government guidance.”
Although concern over the Omicron variant is growing, the Prime Minister urged the public not to cancel Christmas parties during a visit to North Shropshire last week. He said: “There’s been quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, people concerned they need to cancel Christmas parties.
“That’s not right, we’re not saying that... Christmas should go ahead as normally as possible.”
However, when we contacted Sainsbury’s to ask why Christmas parties had been cancelled, a spokesperson insisted that these claims of staff being told to cancel Christmas parties were “misleading”.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “Our teams have done an amazing job this year dealing with all the challenges of the pandemic and with the many issues we continue to deal with across the food supply chain in the run-up to Christmas.
“We are doing everything we can to protect Christmas for our colleagues and our customers and keep everyone safe. As government guidance on face coverings changed on [November 30] we have gone above and beyond to put safety first and have asked all of our colleagues to wear a face covering both on the shop floor and in all colleague areas.
“We have also asked all of our teams to postpone their celebrations until the new year and we will make sure that no one is out of pocket as a result of this decision.
“We really care about our colleagues being able to celebrate Christmas and spend time with family and friends which is why we are also closing all stores this Boxing Day.”
This information was given to us on Friday, December 3, three days after staff were told at a Gloucestershire branch of Sainsbury’s to cancel their Christmas celebrations.
Although Sainsbury’s has said that they will be in touch with the branch, as they believe the information provided to staff members at this particular store is not an ‘accurate reflection of the update which has been shared with [its] colleagues,’ it appears that multiple branches across the country received a similar message.
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s insisted said: “The industry issues on labour and recruitment are well known and are ongoing and we are doing everything we can to avoid increased absence.
“The situation is very delicate as we head into Christmas and we need to do everything we can to make Christmas safe for our colleagues and our customers.”