Protest held over weekend working

Over 100 protesters, including a family eating lunch, gathered outside the London headquarters of Sainsbury’s this week, in a row over work patterns.

The Unite union has accused Sainsbury’s of double standards, saying that it promotes its ‘Feed Your Family’ campaign whilst failing to intervene in contractor DHL imposing a shift pattern which means that out of 12 five-day shifts, many workers will only get three weekends off. The new patterns have come about as a result of a consolidation programme, whereby DHL is moving its Sainsbury's-dedicated hubs in Allington, Kent, and Charlton into a newer Dartford site.

Unite National Officer, Paul Davies, said:

"Sainsbury's high-profile Feed Your Family campaign encourages its customers to eat as a family, but when we urged the supermarket to intervene to protect warehouse workers at its depot from this devastating attack on their family lives we were ignored.

“For many of our members Sunday lunch with the family is virtually extinct. People are absolutely devastated by these changes and they affect almost all the warehouse workers and drivers in some way. But the workers have been told they can either accept it or go. It is time Sainsbury's did the right thing; it has the power to demand that DHL does the right thing."

A spokesman for Sainsbury's told The Grocer:

“We work to have a fair and open workplace for all colleagues. As part of a move to consolidate warehousing and transport facilities, DHL, our warehousing and logistics provider, has held detailed discussions with colleagues and their representatives regarding shift pattern changes.

"These changes reflect the terms already in place for colleagues at Dartford and across our network and the industry. They are industry best practice, meet the volume requirements of the business and will ensure to offer our customers the best possible service."

He added:

“Last year we were the first major food retailer to be awarded gold accreditation from ‘Investors in People’ for our commitment to improving our business by investing in our colleagues.”