Unite has settled an equal pay dispute that threatened to disrupt deliveries to 100 M&S stores in London and the south east.
The management team at Gist, which supplies M&S with nationwide deliveries, has agreed to give 23 workers on local contracts the same pay and conditions as its employees on national contracts.
Unite had threatened to stage a series of 24-hour strikes among 20 employees at the Hemel Hempstead site over claims of an £8,000 annual pay discrepancy between the two groups.
According to Unite, the discrepancies date back to 2008, when there was a local arrangement to supply food to BP garages. However, the logistics arrangement has since changed and those employees now do the same work as those on the M&S national contract.
But the union announced this week that affected workers had “overwhelmingly accepted” Gist’s offer of parity in pay, terms and conditions.
Unite regional officer Alan Brkljac said: “I would like to pay tribute to the solidarity that our members have shown during the course of this dispute, which contributed greatly to the successful outcome.
“As a result, all planned industrial action has been called off and we look forward to working constructively with the Gist management going forward and putting this dispute well behind us in the interests of all parties.”
No comments yet