Asda makes U-turn on staff Christmas perk

Supermarket chain Asda has been forced to reinstate a Christmas discount for its 140,000 staff.

Asda employees get a 10% discount on purchases throughout the year, which increases to 20% on many items at Christmas. But this year the 20% discount was applied to a narrower range of goods such as Christmas cards, wrap and lights - alcoholic drinks, toys, CDs and DVDs were all excluded, for "operational reasons".

Enraged at the sudden withdrawal of this long-standing perk, workers contacted rival supermarket Tesco to ask if they would offer the same price cuts. Paul Kenny, acting general secretary of the GMB general union, made the same request to Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.

As a result, the discount was reinstated on all the goods - except CDs and DVDs - last month.

GMB organiser Giovanna Holt welcomed the move, but not the continued exclusion of DVDs and CDs. "If only [Asda] had listened to the GMB weeks ago, they would have avoided all this hardship and bad publicity," she added.