Asda staff protest as deadline for controversial new contract looms


Protests by Asda workers refusing to sign a “punitive” new contract continued last month, with the GMB general union writing to company bosses calling on them not to sack 12,000 workers just before Christmas.


In an open letter to senior vice president Hayley Tatum, the union has called on the company to withdraw its threat to sack all workers who don’t sign the controversial “Contract 6” by the beginning of November.


Last month, Asda workers handed in a 23,000-strong petition opposing the contract to Asda headquarters during a mass protest in Leeds.


Hundreds of people from across the UK had gathered in Leeds to voice their anger.


Asda workers have been told to sign the contracts — which, the union says, will see them lose all their paid breaks and forced to work bank holidays — or be sacked on 2 November in the run-up to Christmas.


According to the union, the latest company accounts show directors took home a massive £12 million last year — and profits rocketed more than £92 million — at the same time as the supermarket giant slashed 5,000 jobs.


Gary Carter, GMB national officer, said: “Asda has served notice on up to 12,000 of its loyal employees — that cannot be right. The onus is now on them to save people’s jobs with a better deal that their employees can sign up to.”

https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/dont-sack-12000-asda-workers-just-christmas