{"id":24497,"date":"2020-11-05T15:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T15:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=24497"},"modified":"2020-11-05T17:53:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T17:53:38","slug":"well-be-fighting-tooth-and-nail-for-our-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=24497","title":{"rendered":"‘We’ll be fighting tooth and nail for our members’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Even those considered the safest jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic are not immune to being cut, after major supermarket retailer Sainbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s today (November 5) announced an astonishing 3,500 job losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sainbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said the majority of the jobs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 3,000 — would go from the 420 Argos stores it plans to close by March 2024, with an additional 500 jobs being slashed from the retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fish, meat and deli counters in May next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite represents the affected staff working on counters, which have been closed since March when the pandemic first hit and which Sainbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said will now close permanently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jobs cuts come as Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s posted half-year results showing a \u00c2\u0141137m loss in the six months to September, compared to a \u00c2\u01419m profit over the same period last year. Despite a surge in grocery and Argos-led sales of 8.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively, this was not enough to offset losses fuelled by a drop in petrol and clothing sales. Overall sales dropped by 1.4 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s underlying half-year profits were much higher than analysts expected at \u00c2\u0141301m, up from \u00c2\u0141238m last year. Just like rivals Tesco and Morrison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/a>, Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announced too that it would paying out shareholder dividends \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even as they now benefit to the tune of hundreds of millions from a massive business rate holiday.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s senior shop steward Neelam Verma told UniteLIVE she was saddened by the news of job cuts but said she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t entirely surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked for Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for 18 years and when I first joined 140 colleagues were working in my store \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s down to 85. Over this time, those colleagues who have left or been cut have not been replaced and since then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being asked to do more and more with fewer resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen we signed a new contract in 2017, we were asked to be experts in three different areas in the shop. Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more than that. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stretching us to breaking point. It creates a massive mental strain on colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this level of stress has a huge effect on customer service.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neelam said she believed that Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s was failing to \u00e2\u20ac\u015blook at the bigger picture\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and was more concerned with its shareholders than its customers and staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c these latest job cuts, she said, are part of this pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very sad that on the one hand they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re announcing closures of the fish, meat and deli counters and Argos stores, and then on the other hand you see they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a huge increase in grocery, online and Argos sales \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it shows they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only in it for the money. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not in it for the people. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only a number to them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This attitude has also been reflected in the way Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s has aggressively adopted technologies such as self-checkout and smart shopping \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to the detriment of many of its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur elderly customers in particular \u00e2\u20ac\u201c many of whom live alone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will go into a store just so they can talk to someone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Neelam explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEspecially at this time during lockdown, so many people have nowhere to go and no one to talk to, and a supermarket can be their only outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relentlessly pushes these new technologies, they shed staff numbers. Those who are left are under such mental stress from massive workloads that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the time to spend with our customers. In the process Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loses that vital link with their communities and with society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe know Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s is a business and has to make money but at the same time they need to value their colleagues and value our labour,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Neelam added.  \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd of course these job losses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as is the case across the retail sector \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will disproportionately affect women and Black and Asian ethnic minority (BAEM) people. Instead of giving back to the society that has made them so successful Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s is actively bringing it harm.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the job cuts, Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief executive Simon Roberts said today that the company will \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwork hard to find alternative roles for as many of these colleagues as possible and expect to be able to offer alternative roles for the majority of impacted colleagues”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Neelam, this is where Unite has a vital role to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs Unite reps and shop stewards, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be fighting tooth and nail for members,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe know our stores intimately \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how many total working hours are in our individual stores and who is leaving due to retirement, returning to university or leaving for other personal reasons. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to do our homework to ensure that every single member can be redeployed in some way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite national officer for the food industry Bev Clarkson agreed, and called on Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to work with Unite to ensure no Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worker is left without a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is very disappointing news for our 500 members working on the deli, fish and meat counters,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are seeking urgent talks with the management to explore deployment opportunities within Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, given the supermarket\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sales have risen since the first lockdown in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHopefully, the supermarket can reopen some of these counters, closed since March, once the Covid-19 restrictions are eased and a vaccine comes on stream,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Clarkson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s needs to engage more constructively with Unite going forward as this news came \u00e2\u20ac\u0098out of the blue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 without the detailed consultations we would expect from such an established and well-known company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is very grim news for our members and their families in the run-up to Christmas, and we will be giving them maximum support during this worrying and uncertain time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even those considered the safest jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic are not immune to being cut, after major supermarket retailer Sainbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s today (November 5) announced an astonishing 3,500 job losses. Sainbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said the majority of the jobs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 3,000 — would go from the 420 Argos stores it plans to close by March 2024, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[1295,489,505],"wps_subtitle":"Unite vows to fight to redeploy all members after Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announces 3,500 job cuts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24497"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24504,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24497\/revisions\/24504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}