Thursday, June 29, 2006

GMB/ASDA Agreement

The document agreed by the GMB and ASDA can be found at:

http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/PressItems.asp?NodeID=94098

8 comments:

AN said...

Well i had rashly agreed to help leaflet the Didcot depot from 10:00 tomorrow evening, and picket though the midnight walk out. So I am very glad I don't have to do that now.

It looks like a win. But it will be keeping the Walmart bastards to it that will be tricky and require organisation in the depots. Perhaps if we had had the strike shopfloor organisation would have been strengthened.

But i admit I was apprehensive that 5 days might be a bit of a stretch for some of the less well organised depots.

AN said...

Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary said, "This new agreement which GMB and Asda Wal-Mart have worked very hard to achieve heralds a new fresh approach to representation and bargaining between the company and GMB. It is the clear intention of this new agreement that issues beneficial to the growth of the company and the economic benefit of its employees will be dealt with through the new National Joint Council."

Derek Wall said...

like the university lectures agreement we in the Green Left will have to study this to decide if it really is a victory but in both cases at least strong tu action has had some effect

Frank Partisan said...

Getting any concession from Walmart is a victory.

Martin Wicks said...

The shop stewards voted for the agreement unanimously - the full time officials left the room to allow to have a discussion on their own.

Most important is the winning of access to the depots, which will enable recruitment to be stepped up. This has already been tested out by full-time officials.

This deal does not constitute collective bargaining at the national level, but it does potentially open the way to it, to the degree that the GMB drives up membership and builds its workplace organisation.
organisation.

Thankfully, 'partnership' has been dumped.

AN said...

It is good hat the full-time officals have already tested the access arrangement, that sort of thing can psychologically feel like a big step forward on the shop floor. Getting somethin that mangament had refused.

It will allow work to be done to build workplace organisation. And as renegade Eye says, getting anything from Walmart is a victry, given the fiercly anti-union stance of the company. It will be interetng how much this use of this can be made by the US unions in showing Walmart workers what is possible.

Richard Quick, Millionaire said...

Just get rich.

You'll feel much better.

The Sentinel said...
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