Union step up campaign with Lidl staff

Union officials are pressing bosses at Lidl to give staff a stronger voice.

Usdaw, the trade union for Lidl staff, is stepping up a long-running campaign for recognition among the workforce.

Next week, officials are focusing on the Livingston Lidl distribution centre, with activists talking to staff as they arrive, as part of a nationwide campaign running through the year.

When talking to Usdaw distribution centre staff have raised concerns about their working conditions including poor health and safety, unreasonable volume of work and difficult to achieve performance targets, not receiving reasonable notice of rotas and unpaid hours after the shift has finished.

Tracy Gilbert, Usdaw deputy divisional officer for Scotland, said: “Usdaw is regularly receiving feedback from Lidl staff generally unhappy about their treatment at work and say morale at the distribution centre can be pretty low.

“Usdaw’s campaign is based on the comments and real experiences of Lidl workers.

“The company now needs to sit down with Usdaw, the independent trade union representing their staff, so we can work to overcome these significant issues. Many Lidl workers are joining Usdaw and we urge others to sign up so that Usdaw can help get them a better deal and a strong voice at work for when things are going wrong.”

A spokesperson for Lidl said workers already get a good deal, adding: “As a responsible retailer, we are committed to ensuring our employees receive a high level of internal support and are provided with entitlements that go above and beyond statutory standards.

“This includes longer basic holiday packages, which increase with length of service.

“In 2015, we also became the first British supermarket to adopt the Living Wage, as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, directly benefitting over 50 per cent of our workforce.

“In November 2017 we announced this will be increased further, in addition to giving over 16,000 of our hourly paid employees a pay rise, effective from this month.

“As a result, our employees are amongst the best paid in the industry.

“We value direct communication and relationships with our employees and want to be the kind of employer where people don’t feel they need to pay a union to represent them.”