GMB Scotland has advised that they have had many calls from ASDA staff worried about the impact of the impending ASDA and Sainsbury’s merger which was announced earlier today. The resulting company would employ around 300,000 people across the UK.
The union has been told that local managers told staff this morning that no jobs will be lost. ASDA Chief Executive Roger Burnley has written to all employees telling them that the merger cannot take place until the Competitions and Markets Authority has investigated the deal, which may not be until the second half of next year. He also said that the business deal will not mean the closure of any stores.
GMB Scotland Organiser Bob Deavy is calling for more information. He said: “We’ve been inundated with calls from worried ASDA staff. There is no comfort whatsoever in being told your employment status is merely ‘safe for now’ when you have families to feed and mortgages to pay for.
ASDA senior executives can spin this merger any way they like but the reality is they have offered no guarantees about jobs, business models will change and the CMA will most likely not allow the status quo to remain.
Something has to give when giants collide and our challenge to Roger Burnley is straightforward: Tell us what your vision is for our members’ jobs, terms and conditions in the year 2020 after the dust settles on this merger.
After weeks if not months of negotiations with Sainsbury’s in the shadows, without any consultation with the workers or their trade union, and given the serious implications this could have on the Scottish economy, it’s time we had some honesty.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
