Work extra hours or face sack, Thurso Co-op staff told
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STAFF at a Thurso supermarket claim they have been given an ultimatum to work extra hours or face being sacked.
Co-op workers at the chain’s Meadow Lane store were left stunned after apparently being told by management they would be asked to work more hours — above what they already said they are available to do — and, if they didn’t, they would be dismissed from the company payroll.
The supermarket has not denied the claim but responded by saying it is currently assessing its employees’ work patterns at the Thurso store and is in negotiations with staff.
It is understood employees were notified during a staff briefing on Monday that the store has been experiencing difficulties filling vacancies for early morning, evening and weekend shifts.
The store is reportedly in the process of trying to fill these posts but staff claim they were told if the company could not find new workers existing employee contracts would be changed to cover the hours.
Staff are also claiming if they do not agree to a change in their contract to work extra shifts they will be dismissed without redundancy.
A worker, who does not want to be named for fear of possible repercussions, said colleagues were left feeling “stunned and undervalued” by the situation.
“They told us they needed all these hours to be covered and we’ve all been asked to change our availability to suit the store’s working hours,” the worker stated.
“Some of us are working extra hours but this has not been enough to cover all the vacant shifts. We were told if they can’t get the staff needed to work the hours which they required, they would change the current staff’s contracts to suit the needs of the company.
“If we didn’t want to agree to the new contracts, we were told we wouldn’t get redundancy, we would just face dismissal.
“We were all left stunned by what we had heard. None of us knows if it will actually come to that but the announcement has made us all feel uneasy.”
It was also stated that a list of the hours available has been put up for current employees to agree to work to this week.
A spokesperson for the Co-op would not confirm what was said during the staff briefing but explained the company is looking at ways for existing employees to increase their availability during operational hours.
“Like most retailers, we require a flexible workforce to ensure we have the right number of people working at the right times, especially during our busiest periods,” he said.
“We are currently consulting with our colleagues and, where there is a business requirement to change working patterns, we are doing all we can to agree a mutually acceptable way of making any changes to their availability.
“If this is an issue we will work with each individual to come to a solution.”
It is believed staff have not reported the issue to their union and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers has not commented.
