Tesco loses 'fire and rehire' court battle

Tesco has said it is examining its legal options after losing a court battle over contracts with some workers at its Livingston distribution centre.

Retail trade union Usdaw won a temporary interdict in the Court of Session on Friday over what the union called a "fire and rehire" policy.

It means Tesco cannot terminate workers there and re-engage them on new terms which do not retain their rate of pay.

Usdaw had claimed some staff could lose between £4,000 and £19,000 a year.

The judgement applies to the Livingston site only, although the union said it would continue to fight for workers in the Litchfield, Daventry clothing and Avonmouth Tesco distribution centres.

'Major victory'

Usdaw national officer Joanne McGuinness said: "We are very pleased to have secured this victory for our members who faced a huge cut in wages after Tesco moved to renege on a long-standing collective agreement made in good faith.

"It is a major victory in the fight against 'fire and rehire' tactics, which are now being used by too many businesses.

"The court delivered a temporary prohibition and we are now calling on the company to honour the judgment and withdraw its plans at all sites.

"We stand ready to seek a permanent interdict for Livingston and a High Court injunction for the other sites to defend this unfair pay cut for hundreds of key workers."

'Surprised at decision'

A Tesco spokesman said the company was "surprised" by the court's decision and was "looking at how we can legally challenge this".

He said: "We will continue to engage with Usdaw and the very small number of colleagues at our Livingston distribution centre who are affected by this.

"Retained pay was offered a number of years ago as an incentive to retain colleagues.

"Today we have over 16,000 colleagues working in distribution, the vast majority of whom do not receive this top-up, so we have taken the decision to phase it out.

"We made a fair offer to those colleagues affected, and many of our colleagues have chosen to accept this.

"This decision does not affect the voluntary process."