Strike at Argos depot in bid to save jobs
HUNDREDS of staff at an Argos warehouse have gone on a twoweek strike in a bid to fight for their jobs.
About 500 staff walked out of a warehouse in Lutterworth and are part of a wider work force of 1,400 who have taken industrial action across the country.
The strike involves members of the Unite union who work at the massive distribution centre in Magna Park.
Job security and terms and conditions of employment are the main driving factors for the action.
Workers at centres in Basildon, Bridgwater, Heywood and Burton have also walked out.
In a statement, the Unite union said deliveries to Argos stores in England, Wales and Ireland could be “severely disrupted” by the industrial action.
But Argos insisted would not be affected.
It said: “We can reassure customers that we have strong contingencies in place and their orders and deliveries will not be affected.”
The company added it would taking further legal action over the dispute after a High Court judge threw out an application by Argos to stop the strike.
An Argos statement said: “We strongly believe this dispute to be wholly unnecessary as the union has made a series of demands in the full knowledge that they cannot be met, for legal reasons.
“We are disappointed with the court’s ruling against our injunction based on a technicality but will be submitting a further application.”
The warehouse workers who prepare deliveries for Argos stores deliveries are fearful that a contracting-out culture will lead to job losses and a deterioration in their terms and conditions.
Earlier in the year Argos revealed plans to transfer nearly 500 workers from its Lutterworth distribution hub to Wincanton logistics in Kettering.
Unite claims Argos has refused to give guarantees at all its distribution sites that workers’ terms and conditions will be safeguarded in the future.
Unite national officer Matt Draper said: “We are deeply disappointed at the belligerent and aggressive stance Argos has taken.
“Unite had hoped that we could have reached a negotiated settlement when we attended talks at the conciliation service Acas the other week.
“Instead Argos has sought to use the law to ride roughshod over its workers’ concerns and refused to engage positively.
“Our members have legitimate concerns about being transferred to another company or being offered alternative employment on potentially inferior terms, if they are unwilling to travel to a new site.
“They are fearful that a contracting-out culture will take hold and have asked for guarantees about terms and conditions going forward, in addition to the ability to take voluntary redundancy if a site moves and they cannot transfer.
“The silence from the company is doing nothing to allay those fears and points to a cost cutting agenda. Unite urges Argos to start engaging constructively and offer the guarantees its directly employed warehouse workers are seeking.”