Unite condemned haulage giant, ESL as being “vicious, greedy and hypocritical, as well as delivering a body blow to the local economy”.
Last month, the transport workforce was transferred from Tesco to ESL and the new employers issued notice of termination of employment, with no promise that the drivers will be re-employed once the 90-days is up, Unite said.
Now the drivers, members of Unite, are being balloted on strike action and industrial action short of a strike at the threatened loss of their jobs. The ballot closes on 12 September.
Unite national officer for retail distribution, Matt Draper said: “Unfortunately, we thought this is the action that ESL would take. The scale of the job losses will be grim news for Doncaster – a town already badly hit by the government-induced recession.
“ESL has acted in a vicious and greedy fashion. It is also hypocritical as one reason put forward for this action is to cut CO2 emissions – but now it will be using depots 30 miles away to service the Tesco distribution set-up in Doncaster – so where is the ‘green’ bonus in that?”
Source: Unite
.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024