Workers at one of Brighton’s Asda stores are set to go on strike over health and safety.
The GMB union announced this afternoon that its members at Asda Hollingbury had voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot which closed today.
It said members had also raised bullying – but Asda strongly denies this.
However, members at Brighton Marina, who were also balloted, did not vote to strike.
GMB members have previously taken strike action in Asda stores in Gosport in Hampshire and Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.
The union’s Asda strike committee will meet early next week to decide on next steps.
Declan MacIntyre, GMB Regional Organiser said: “Four months ago, no Asda store had seen its colleagues vote for strike action.
“Since then, Asda colleagues in Gosport and Wisbech have been out on strike and now workers in Brighton have voted for strike action too.
“This is about Asda workers demanding to be heard – it is the GMB members themselves deciding that enough is enough and standing up to take action.
“Asda is financed by TDR Capital and GMB have grave concerns that their heads might be turned by the debt pile of their other asset, Stonegate pub group – let’s hope this ballot result re-focuses their attention on the plight of our members.”
An Asda spokesperson: “We value feedback from our colleagues and have worked collaboratively with the GMB representatives in Brighton to address the points raised.
“While we are disappointed by the outcome of the ballot at Brighton Hollingbury, where a minority of colleagues at the store have voted for industrial action, we will continue to engage with GMB representatives to try and reach an amicable solution.”
Asda said that out of 350 staff working at Hollingbury, only 64 voted in the ballot and only 50 out of those 64 voted in favour of industrial action at our Hollingbury store.
It said it is carrying out a full health and safety review of the store and providing additional training for colleagues when required.
Solidarity
That store is hopeless
Constant empty shelves
Grubby car park
Constantly moving stock locations for no reason
All that and the man at the self service tills still wears a race mask !
THAT ASDA STORE RUINS THE WHOLE EMBIANCE OF THE MARINA ALL THOSE QUAINT SHOPS , THEN YOU’VE GOT THID MONSTROSITY STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
THAT ASDA STORE IS IN HOLLINGBURY NOT THE MARINA
EMBIANCE ????????
There is 0 ambiance in either Hollingbury or Marina
Low quality leadership, this should have been MANAGED a long time ago instead of being left to fester, decent TRAINED Managers can deal with these issues as they occur, not let them get in they way of everything this business supposedly stands for, PRE-EMPTIVE.
Not to mention impolite drivers and removing their excellent sparkling grape juice which was a great alternative to over-priced Shloer. Asda seems to be making all the wrong decisions, no wonder Lidl is always packed.
That earlier post should have read ‘ face mask’
Seriously folks, if you do know who he is and why he still wears a mask please let us know on a postcard !
Man can wear a face mask if he wants to wear a face mask, I literally could not care less.
Lots of us could send you postcards,,, put your name and address right here, I’m sure you will get some response.
With the walking petri dishes that frequent the stores I can’t blame him
Haha, I can’t say I disagree. Hygiene is sometimes quite optional for some people.
Will we notice?
Actually, if the strike shows the store runs it well enough, it could lead to the company reducing staff numbers…
GMB union again. Same bunch of malcontents that took over the refuse collection in Brighton.
Same banner, different set of malcontents.
So if I had pictures of clear health and safety violations who do I send them too, deliveries coming in on three wheeled cages and uneven surfaces which have been known to cause cages to topple and stacks of meat to come crashing to the floor.
If the numbers quoted by Asda are correct, and perhaps the GMB would like to confirm (I doubt it, as they don’t look good for the GMB), then this is hardly a ringing and solid endorsement for any industrial inaction at all, let alone a strike. MacIntyre was one of the ‘bin depot picket three’, along with Gary Palmer and Carl Turner. Before they go reaching for libel writs, the court case against them did collapse, so in legal terms they weren’t guilty of anything at all. They were, in fact, ‘jubilant’. Other people might like to draw their own independent conclusions about the whole thing. Additionally, the GMB themselves are still heavily embroiled in bullying and sexism allegations against them on on a more national basis. I make no comment on Asda or what is going on at Asda, Hollingbury (not a great branch from my limited experience of it from a few years back, so there may well be management issues), but note that staff at the Marina branch do not currently support a strike.
In fairness, those numbers could be correct and still misleading. We don’t know how many of the quoted number of staff could be included on the ballot. They may be union members in USDAW or another union. They may be management, subcontractors, agency or temporary staff who find it hard to unionise, etc.
The article is quite light on detail when it comes to the specific complaints. If they were all focused on the warehouse (for example), all 64 warehouse staff voted and 50 were in favour that’s a pretty resounding level of support. Throw all the other staff onto that figure, and it looks miserable.
I would like to know more details. What were the specific health and safety concerns?
According to the GMB website, the GMB is the only recognised union in the whole Asda firmament, which doesn’t get us anywhere much. From the little specific information that the GMB gives, I have to say this rather smacks of the bin strike playbook, whereby there is a strike or threat of one in one place and, when that gets settled, a similar show materialises elsewhere. According to the GMB, grievances with Asda generally range from bullying, lack of training, failure to settle equal pay, issues, blocked fire exits, cuts in hours etc etc, not all of which are claimed in every store where there have been strikes or ballots for strikes. There are also claims of asset-stripping by the new owners. Some or all of this may be true, but if, as in this case, we don’t hear from anyone on the workers’ side of the fence other than GMB organisers (whether that is an anonymous GMB member, a worker belonging to a different union or no union at all), then the general public will never understand whether the strikes/threats of strikes are justified or not.
As I said before, the GMB itself has been the subject of sexism and misogyny allegations towards its own staff up north and the situation still hasn’t been resolved aproperly after several years. The staff are apparently being represented by Unite. There was a report by a KC which branded the GMB (presumably only in the places up north, but I haven’t seen it) as institutionally sexist and the staff affected say that the recommendations haven’t been fully implemented. I have no idea who is in the right there, but it isn’t a great optic for the union.
It would be very interesting to know if any or all of the Asda grievances existed before the Issa brothers and their backers bought the company (from Walmart, I think) two or three years back. And it would also be interesting to know why staff at the Marina branch aren’t voting to strike. Until we get a full picture, if we ever do, then it’s just smoke and mirrors. I understand what Some Guy above is saying and he may well be right. I also understand why Benjamin is asking what were the specific health and safety concerns. A bit more transparency from anyone involved with Asda Hollingbury (whether that be an anonymous worker source or whoever) might help the general public to understand exactly what the issues are. There must be a fair few people out there who have left the local Asda workforce over recent years and thus would have no qualms about relating their experiences (after all, we had plenty of that in the case of the big bin strike), but we’re not getting any of it this time.
Sounds like a job for a dedicated local news organisation!
Speaking as someone who has been around strikes/disputes, I doubt we’ll hear much from current employees. There were absolute witch hunts about who was talking to the press and while I don’t THINK that’s valid grounds for dismissal we all know HR can make any employee’s life hell if suitably motivated to.