AsdaWalmart New Contracts for Work Sign or Leave 2nd November start
 

These are in line
to get the new national pay rise.

Yesterday former Sainsburys CEO
said he understands all stores will also change.

No extra pay on Bank Holidays etc.
are some of the changes upsetting workers.

[In August, the company told staff if they did not sign up to the
new deal they would leave the business on 2 November.
The deal has been nicknamed the “Martini contract” after the
drink’s 1970s advertising slogan “any time, any place, anywhere”.]

https://www.theguardian.com/business...d-contract-row.

[It also maintains existing benefits including an annual bonus,
share save scheme and staff discount.
Asda says festive bank holidays of Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day
will continue to be “voluntary” with pay at double time.]



Sign Of The Times

...I read about one lady who had worked these since 1995 and she’s facing the loss of her job if she refuses to sign the new contract which takes away some of the working conditions that she’s had...I thought companies were contractually obliged to maintain terms/conditions etc that have become practise..?...and as EU working rights are stripped away, large employers like this are going to exploit workers to the fullest...

Employers can issue new contracts at any time, and add things in, schools changing to academies are a good example of this, unions appear to be toothless and we are still in the EU so not protected by their laws either, 90 per cent of the workforce have accepted these new contracts, it probably affects staff who have worked in Asda for a long time more as their terms were probably better than staff who joined recently. It’s must be very stressful to be in that position, sign or leave, what a great way to reward long serving staff

...this isn’t a transfer of employer, though as an Academy example would be...but there is still EU regulation protection for employees with TUPE... this is still a same employer and there are implied contractual agreements...(..or whatever the term is..)...which aren’t being applied, surely...

...anyways, if EU rights are stripped away when we leave, with protections like TUPE... it will only become more exploitative for employers...the rich will get richer...

we recently had a departmental restructure at work and it was a case for anyone whose job changed to take it or look elsewhere, not sure where all these protections are and the unions seem to be useless

Every Major Store not just AsdaWalmart
is updating their Contracts
and of course you sign it,
its common sense.

...well, the unions definitely need to step up I would say ‘ and meet the demand’ ...because these are changes that should be challenged as to which ones can be implemented and which ones can’t be forced...I’ll get Kizzy onto that right away, she’s just the person for the job I reckon...

...no it’s not common sense for some people to sign an agreement for lesser rights if that’s what they’re being asked to sign...that’s actually dumb sense and you wouldn’t sign it, Arista...’every major store’ doesn’t make it right or moral, it just makes them all equally greedy in trying to protect their profits by taking from their workers and squeezing them...where is the common respect in that..?...

...stop showing respect for the dollar more than respect for people, Arista...and the very people who make that dollar for these big profit companies...

No they can not stop these changes
Times are Harder.

...they wouldn’t even attempt these changes or anything similar with the higher management because they know they would end up in court quicker than they could say Asda...

Sung in 1974 By Curtis Mayfield

"Work To make a Dollar
Watch it melt here in my hand
I cannot Cry, I can't afford to Die"

But no Union wants to Close Down Stores
AsdaWalmart and Tesco
have to Compete with better value
Aldi and Lidl

Example Whole Cucumber
in Asda and Tesco averages at 60p

Aldi and Lidl go for 55p

...bad times are coming, be careful you don’t reap what you done sow, Arista..all that glitters with greed and profit is not gold, baby...

If I recall correctly, the only time changes in contract of employment can be challenged is when the contract changes as the result of a takeover/merger, other than that its "too bad". It's areas like this that need some serious revision in favour of the worker.

..this is quite a good site..(...although there seem to be many sites..)...

https://beta.acas.org.uk/changing-an...yment-contract



...although some contracts have flexibility clauses in them, it still has to be changes that are agreed by both the employer and the employee and also with advice from a Trade Union if applicable..(..and without any threat of job loss, that doesn’t form any part of a mutual agreement..)..it has to be shown to be reasoned and not just because larger profits are being looked for etc...I do think that Unions have to step up to these things because the legalities I think, are dubious...

so many ways employers can get round things now, like when someone leaves they put the new employee on a fixed term contract rather than open ended, or readvertise the job at a lower grade, or employers add new responsibilities into the contract on the same pay, its pretty endless and I am not sure unions are worth their subs currently as they don't appear to be able to change anything

Yes Cherie
Unions are not good value.

Unions only have valued in skilled labour markets where the cost of recruiting and training a new employee and the lost productivity in the meantime is high. Unfortunately, most retail employees - if they chose to strike - can simply be replaced with young, unskilled staff with little loss of productivity. Compare that to something like docks workers or skilled labourers and its obviously very different... If they strike, it takes months or longer to train a replacement to an effective standard, and who would be training them? Also why flight attendants can be effective in strikes; if a plane isn't adequately staffed, it simply is not allowed to take off, and airlines can lose a lot of money very quickly. ASDA could replace 90% of their workforce over night and have them trained in a week. Basically, unionising in retail is worthless.

Glad I left, I am still friends with lots of the ladies I worked with and some of them are losing out on holiday entitlement so they get less days off than they did and one worked for asdas 28 years.

[Asda refuses to remove sack threat for thousands of staff over compulsory contracts ]

https://news.sky.com/story/asda-refu...racts-11845215

Haha thanks for the glowing endorsement Ammi :) not sure if I can shed any light on this. I know Walmart is as uber shady as well.. uber :/ the only thing I can think of is that the contract change being on the 2nd of Nov they were banking on us being well out of the EU and therefore not under the EWTD (European working time directive). This not now being the case if they go ahead with the changes I would have thought that was contractually a breech that could be challenged?
They appear to be holding their nerve but I'd be surprised if they go ahead with the threat in Nov.