PAY AND BENEFITS UPDATE
JH/LF
21 August 2023
Dear Member,
Please see below an update on your recently submitted Pay and Benefits Claim.
Mandate would like to take this opportunity to update all our members in Tesco Ireland with regards to developments surrounding your Pay & Benefits Claim. As you are aware a delegation of Shop Stewards from the Tesco National Negotiation Team lodged your claim to Tesco Head Office on 10th July 2023. The terms of your broad claim were endorsed by 1000’s of our members through our Pledge Card Campaign, which we would encourage you to review and sign up to if you haven’t already done so by clicking here.
Further to the claim being submitted, the Company have now confirmed that they “would welcome a meeting with Mandate Trade Union and colleague representatives to discuss both your broad agenda and ours”. Read the full letter here. In the response received, Tesco Ireland refer to a previous correspondence of 27th March 2023 where they requested an engagement that was both time-bound and had definitive outcomes. Importantly, members should be aware that in correspondence of the 4th April 2023 from Mandate to Tesco Ireland and more recently in correspondence dated 16th August 2023 which was sent following a meeting with the Tesco National Negotiation Team, which comprises of an elected Tesco Shop Steward from each Mandate Division, Mandate has sought clarification from the Company as to what is meant by their reference to definitive outcomes. Assistant General Secretary Jonathan Hogan responded to the Company stating that he does not “believe revising opinions in correspondence at this juncture, regarding historical proposals that were found to be overwhelmingly unacceptable by our members to be helpful in advance of beginning a new stage of negotiations”.
Importantly the Assistant General Secretary also stated that the claim is for “an improved remuneration package that provides for certainties of a higher income threshold, additional enhanced benefits and greater certainty of working patterns to fulfill the work-life balance needs of all our members”.
Members will remember this wasn’t the case with the Company’s pay consolidation model in the November 2021 proposals, however Mandate’s position is clear, our members current pay claim is for a higher income threshold and not less. In addition to the above the Assistant General Secretary has also confirmed to Tesco Ireland that “from the perspective of Mandate Trade Union, ultimately it will be our members who will determine whether any agreed set of proposals would be deemed acceptable or not through a ballot vote”. Given Mandate’s recent request for clarifications and stated position as referred to above regarding our members pay and benefits claim, as matters progress we will keep you updated.
Please do not hesitate to contact your relevant Mandate Official if you have any questions or queries with regard to this correspondence. Mandate Local Offices
Yours fraternally
The Mandate Tesco National Negotiation Team