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From The Socialist newspaper, 15 December 2021
Tesco strike action latest
Tesco Dagenham distribution centre; One-day Usdaw strike over pay in 2018. , photo Richard Groves (Click to enlarge)
Proposed strike action at Tesco distribution centres in the run-up to Christmas has forced bosses back to the negotiating table and resulted in an improved offer.
Strike action by Unite members at depots in Antrim, Belfast, Didcot and Doncaster has been suspended as members vote on a new, improved offer of 5.5%. Usdaw re-entered talks with Tesco and strike action by 5,000 members at nine Tesco distribution centres in Daventry Clothing, Goole, Hinckley, Lichfield, Livingston, Magor (both trunk and main sites), Peterborough and Southampton has been suspended too as members ballot on an "improved offer" thought to be 5.5% from 15 December.
Tesco is trying to force workers into a real-terms pay cut, despite Tesco predicting an operating profit of £2.6 billion for the current financial year and praising its staff as 'key workers' during the pandemic. These workers helped keep the country fed, resulting in increased profits for the bosses - a 16.5% increase in the first half of the year. 5.5% would represent a victory after the rejection of an initial 4% offer, and shows the power the workers and unions, and the threat of strike action, have.
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In The Socialist 15 December 2021:
News
Tory cuts and privatisation leave NHS in crisis
Unions must fight for Covid workplace safety
Councils to make workers pay, again
What we think
Split Tories and spineless Starmer
End of the USSR
The legacy of the collapse of Stalinism
LGBTQ+ rights
Stonewall attacked by the establishment
Workplace news
Sharon Graham: 100 days as Unite general secretary - the challenges ahead
Fighting union leadership needed to win NHS pay rise
Support tube workers fighting back
South Wales Stagecoach victory
Yorkshire Stagecoach strikers confidence growing
Welcome support for striking Scunthorpe scaffolders
Guards fight for their grades on CrossCountry rail
Coventry bin workers strike against Christmas holiday cut
Sheffield couriers escalate and spread action
Uni support staff strike ballot
Barts health workers to strike for a pay rise
Worksop Wincanton depot strike builds
International news
Sudan: End military rule and poverty
Campaigns
Nana's eviction: Community vs heartless Labour council
London solidarity protest: Rio Tinto out of Serbia
Save St Mary's Leisure Centre in Southampton
Why we joined the Socialist Party
Selling the Socialist - Waltham Cross and Boscombe
Posters, car boot and socialist guided tour - some ideas to raise funds
Readers' opinion
TV review: Vaccine Wars: The Truth About Pfizer
Quiz 2021
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2021