Tesco’s Supreme Court ‘Fire and Rehire’ Case.
Tesco has announced its intention to comply with a Supreme Court decision regarding a ‘fire and rehire‘ case, coinciding with governmental initiatives aimed at enhancing workers’ rights.
The Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw), together with three of its representatives employed at Tesco, took legal action in response to the 2021 proposals to fire staff at some distribution centres and rehire them on lower pay. The case, involved more than 360 workers predominantly based in Livingston, West Lothian, emerged when the supermarket chain proposed increased “retained pay” incentives for staff willing to relocate in 2007 (Daventry and Lichfield under a collective agreement with Usdaw).
In a judgement given today, 12/9/2024, the judges stated that Tesco’s employment contracts included a term that said the supermarket Tesco could not terminate employees just to take away their right to “retained pay”. The verdict delivered today marks the outcome of the Supreme Court case which took place in April this year, and the latest development in an extended legal dispute between the largest retailer in the UK and the Usdaw union.
Usdaw members employed by Tesco in its Daventry and Lichfield distribution centres had previously won a landmark legal victory against Tesco, after they said it had attempted to strip them of “retained pay”, which the trade union claimed dismissed staff and instead offered to re-engage them on “inferior” terms and conditions.
Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “These sorts of tactics have no place in industrial relations, so we felt we had to act to protect those concerned. We were very disappointed with the outcome in the Court of Appeal but always felt we had to see this case through. We are therefore delighted to get this outcome, which is a win for the trade union movement as a whole.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We accept the Supreme Court’s judgment. Our colleagues in our distribution centres play a really critical role in helping us to serve our customers and we value all their hard work. Our objective in this has always been to ensure fairness across all our DC colleagues. Today’s judgment relates to a contractual dispute brought on behalf of a very small number of colleagues in our UK distribution network who receive a supplement to their pay. This supplement was offered many years ago as an incentive to retain certain colleagues and the vast majority of our distribution colleagues today do not receive this top-up. Our aim has always been to engage constructively with Usdaw and the small number of colleagues affected.”