Over 100 security workers at Tesco have been told that they will be made redundant by the end of the month as the multinational supermarket chain begins outsourcing their roles to OCS security services.
The security workers were told of the outsourcing at meetings on Tuesday last and were given three options: severance payment; redeployment to other positions in their store, if available; or a transfer to OCS security services.
Tesco has set a deadline of 1st March for the workers to make a decision on their future.
The trade union Mandate has called for the company to drop the deadline, saying it is “unrealistic” and “disrespectful”.
At a meeting of all security staff on Friday, Keith Leonard, Tesco security officer in Castlebar, Co. Mayo said: “I’ve been spat at, threatened and beaten up for this company over the last 16 years. Then on Tuesday on my day off the company calls me to tell me my job is gone. It’s upsetting and disrespectful and we all deserve so much better.
“How do I look my family in the eye when the mortgage company comes to take away our home because Tesco took my livelihood away?”
“These are the ‘frontline’ and ‘essential’ workers we all celebrated at the start of the pandemic,” said Jonathan Hogan, Mandate Assistant General Secretary. “And after all they’ve been through, they are now being told that they are disposable.”
Hogan went on to call for Tesco to show respect for the staff and engage in meaningful negotiations:
“Tesco has had a long relationship with the Mandate Trade Union which has always represented the Tesco security staff and they know how they should do business. They should have come to us first before upsetting our members with news that their future is uncertain.
“They don’t know what types of contract they’ll be working on if they transfer to OCS, they don’t know if there are spaces in the stores they work in, and they don’t know the implications of accepting a severance package. This all needs to be negotiated.”
