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New contract concerns

Started by Paper Rose, 26-05-22, 10:39AM

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barafear

Quote from: HiHarvey on 02-07-22, 12:50AMMcDonalds are paying assistants £11 an hour while Tesco advertise at £4 and the lead team are surprised no one wants  to do a hands turn for them. Meanwhile the SMs are buying BMWs and Bellway homes.

£4 an hour? Where's that?

Biscuits

If the new contracts are going to be one size fits all does this affect the sick pay from day one? Everything else has been eroded away over the years and it's about the only thing that long serving colleagues have left.

lucgeo

I would very much doubt it, as it is a standing agreement for longer time serving colleagues...I would think there would have been an uproar before now if it was the case? Usually in these type of situations in the past, Tesco have bought the hours with a payoff!

However, never say never, it is certainly a big question of concern, I would urge you to contact the union area office for clarification before it goes through!
Live for today. Learn from yesterday.

Morris999

Sick pay hasn't been touched for longer serving colleagues as part of the pay review/contract changes.

I doubt as a % of overall store colleagues this impacts Tesco that much now.

londoner83

Yes the overwhelming majority of colleagues are now not paid for the first 3 days of sickness. Wouldn't be surprised if at some point in time Tesco try to buy out the remaining people's rights.

lucgeo

Tesco have relied upon "natural wastage" before, hoping older colleagues would leave and then not replace them. However this hasn't, on the whole,  been the case. As the retirement age was increased by 6 years for women, who are the higher % of employee's in stores, redundancies became inevitable in some departments, as being the only solution for the streamlining needed.

Hence the reason, a few years back, of changing the name badges from department specific to customer assistant. Now they're changing the contracts, everyone to be fully trained and not have a specific department, or even store it would seem  ???

Would it be more cost productive to offer a buyout, as the remaining long service workforce may need to be working those extra years, and as we know, old age doesn't come on its own, it brings a whole load of problems with it, mainly in ill health  :(
Live for today. Learn from yesterday.

NightAndDay

#156
Tesco will always act in the most cost effective way, they are a results before people business, their p**s poor performing canary is USDAW, the real diabolical action is happening outside of Tesco at present, Kwasi Kwarteng wants to use his democratically gifted Tory powers to provide a mandate to kill off the Unions, as slipshod as USDAW is, they form some defense against Tesco going to town on their employees terms and conditions, if the unions go, the master-servant relationship between employer and employee will become a whole lot more power imbalanced.

Redshoes

I have three people over 70 in my Depts. They can put some of the younger ones to shame. Age does come with some problems, sometimes but not always. I have younger colleagues with much bigger health issues. For me I have one guy under 30 who can only cope with a max of 16 hours a week, three women under 40 with the highest sick record in the store but the three over 70 have no adjustments, no oh referrals and the only thing in the absence file is related to Covid positive tests. They do overtime, they turn up on time and do a good job.

lucgeo

Indeed many stores have their older generation stalwarts, but you have to wonder sometimes...why ??? For some, they say they'd just be "bored at home!" Get a voluntary job then, and let the youngsters have the hours, if you don't need the money!

I've seen how this rise in the pension age has affected a lot of colleagues, mainly women! Many will be facing working well past their retirement age, as the 35 year minimum of NI contributions puts them at a disadvantage due to having taken time out to look after their school age kids.
I've seen divorced/single women in their 60's working 6 days a week, doing all the overtime they can get, to manage on their wage. Seen those doing grandparent duties on their days off, or after their shifts to support their children with childcare costs! Hell I know one woman, early 60's, shift 6am-1.30pm, goes straight from work to visit her parent in a care home with dementia, then straight to pick grandkids up from school, take to their after school activities, then look after them till single parent comes home from shift at 10pm! All on a 30 minute break! She just wants to sit on a checkout and do the job she's paid to do, but is now expected to jump up and help on shop floor at the beck and call of any manager, or risk being disciplined, being labelled lazy and not a team player if she asks not to, always by some male manager sitting in the Costa all day!
The menopause is now becoming a recognised debilitating condition, Tesco will talk the talk, as they do with mental health, but it wont ever be taken seriously into consideration, as senior management is still very much male dominant! Will never have heard of dysmenorrhea, then just blush and disregard it, with a wave of the hand, as a woman thing and not a medical factor  for consideration in an absence disciplinary! Even if the section manager is emphatic, they'll already have been told which outcome to reach before they even go into the meeting!
Live for today. Learn from yesterday.

Redshoes

I worry about the impact of those on low contract hours going into the future. I know there is a change to national insurance but if you don't pay enough years of national insurance it affects how much you will be awarded with state pension. I have a friend who had worked all her life but at 64 she has not paid enough to qualify for full pension. I am in my 60's and I only have 6 months when I did not pay NI as it was paid on my behalf during pregnancy.
I have one colleague over retirement age who uses his wages to pay for big holidays. Another is saving for a new kitchen. Another just wants structure, a reason to get out of bed. Many who work for us have had another career and the wages just top up pension.
Nobody is asking someone with health issues on checkouts to then go and fill juice, a bad manager somewhere in the country might but this should not be the case. If checkouts are not busy they can do a cardboard run, they could fill health and beauty, they could support pfs with breaks etc.
I also have trolley colleagues, a couple with special needs. They do a great job and the customers love them. They do both go on the tills and are great at it. They do the put backs for checkouts and they rumble. They are on low hours and I feel they do enough. There is enough for them to be doing, they are always busy. The tills are so easy that I also have a couple of special needs colleagues with tills as a primary task. They can't do self service or scan as you shop. What they could do on the shop floor is very limited but they never get till investigations and again the customers love them. They would need special coaching on the shop floor, could not work without a buddy. I would worry about them on the shop floor but again there are enough little tasks that they can do.
We are never going to get to 100% of people doing multiple tasks, we just need enough to be able to deliver the shop. We don't want grocery colleagues on tills, till colleagues filling juice and fresh colleagues doing dot.com. We need colleagues to work in primary roles but have enough people to be able to help out when needed.

Batmanjo

Quote from: Redshoes on 12-07-22, 08:54AMI worry about the impact of those on low contract hours going into the future. I know there is a change to national insurance but if you don't pay enough years of national insurance it affects how much you will be awarded with state pension. I have a friend who had worked all her life but at 64 she has not paid enough to qualify for full pension. I am in my 60's and I only have 6 months when I did not pay NI as it was paid on my behalf during pregnancy.
I have one colleague over retirement age who uses his wages to pay for big holidays. Another is saving for a new kitchen. Another just wants structure, a reason to get out of bed. Many who work for us have had another career and the wages just top up pension.
Nobody is asking someone with health issues on checkouts to then go and fill juice, a bad manager somewhere in the country might but this should not be the case. If checkouts are not busy they can do a cardboard run, they could fill health and beauty, they could support pfs with breaks etc.
I also have trolley colleagues, a couple with special needs. They do a great job and the customers love them. They do both go on the tills and are great at it. They do the put backs for checkouts and they rumble. They are on low hours and I feel they do enough. There is enough for them to be doing, they are always busy. The tills are so easy that I also have a couple of special needs colleagues with tills as a primary task. They can't do self service or scan as you shop. What they could do on the shop floor is very limited but they never get till investigations and again the customers love them. They would need special coaching on the shop floor, could not work without a buddy. I would worry about them on the shop floor but again there are enough little tasks that they can do.
We are never going to get to 100% of people doing multiple tasks, we just need enough to be able to deliver the shop. We don't want grocery colleagues on tills, till colleagues filling juice and fresh colleagues doing dot.com. We need colleagues to work in primary roles but have enough people to be able to help out when needed.

If only we all wore rose tinted glasses and could be inspired to see all the fluffy bunnies doing all the marvellous tasks they are required to do, alas glasses off back to the real world it always ends up the same people who work hard are the one's they push and you will find they will be the one's getting pushed from pillar to post for every job on every department until the breakdown, when as the "favs" will just get left to doing one job as the cannot be trusted or favouritism is used.
These new contracts still mean that a person works on a certain department and may within reason be required to help on another department. The words "Within reason" will play a significant role in time.
I cannot believe you would bring special needs into the equation as they are already covered by the DISABILITY ACT 2010 seriously.     

Batmanjo

Quote from: lucgeo on 12-07-22, 07:24AMIndeed many stores have their older generation stalwarts, but you have to wonder sometimes...why ??? For some, they say they'd just be "bored at home!" Get a voluntary job then, and let the youngsters have the hours, if you don't need the money!

I've seen how this rise in the pension age has affected a lot of colleagues, mainly women! Many will be facing working well past their retirement age, as the 35 year minimum of NI contributions puts them at a disadvantage due to having taken time out to look after their school age kids.
I've seen divorced/single women in their 60's working 6 days a week, doing all the overtime they can get, to manage on their wage. Seen those doing grandparent duties on their days off, or after their shifts to support their children with childcare costs! Hell I know one woman, early 60's, shift 6am-1.30pm, goes straight from work to visit her parent in a care home with dementia, then straight to pick grandkids up from school, take to their after school activities, then look after them till single parent comes home from shift at 10pm! All on a 30 minute break! She just wants to sit on a checkout and do the job she's paid to do, but is now expected to jump up and help on shop floor at the beck and call of any manager, or risk being disciplined, being labelled lazy and not a team player if she asks not to, always by some male manager sitting in the Costa all day!
The menopause is now becoming a recognised debilitating condition, Tesco will talk the talk, as they do with mental health, but it wont ever be taken seriously into consideration, as senior management is still very much male dominant! Will never have heard of dysmenorrhea, then just blush and disregard it, with a wave of the hand, as a woman thing and not a medical factor  for consideration in an absence disciplinary! Even if the section manager is emphatic, they'll already have been told which outcome to reach before they even go into the meeting!


Always like to read your posts as I am always in agreement with you "being labelled lazy and not a team player" I have had quite a few times but is only because I would not go on checkouts due to the 2005 agreement and when managers asked in public constantly "why can you not go on checkouts" I could see how vexed the become and their blood pressure rise significantly yet other staff are left alone to do their job, I have been targeted as a result by many managers however they cannot change the fact that the agreement still exists..........well for now.

Tesla


lucgeo

@Batmanjo

We had one manager that constantly asked the same pre2005 colleague to go on checkouts, even smirking they'd get them on eventually, unfortunately wrong colleague to mess with  :-X

They put in a grievance against the manager under T&C's (which went out of store at that time) for harassment and bullying! Manager was severely dealt with, but even then the SM had a snide dig, saying the agreement was due to be changed, that was 10+ years ago! Colleague just smiled and told SM, when it does, please be sure they are informed first!!  :D  :D



Live for today. Learn from yesterday.

kaled78

we have long serving managers who refuse to go on checkouts because of the 2005 agreement,even though it only covered B grade staff from back in the day

londoner83

The agreement does nothing to prevent colleagues being trained on self serve or scan as you shop as both technologies didn't exist when the 2005 deal was signed....and it's a long standing legal principle that deals won't cover yet to be invented future technology.

In 2005 there was a clear need for the deal - Shopfloor staff were paid B rate whilst those on tills were paid a higher c rate. It was clearly unfair to expect people to do jobs above their pay grade.

However times and retail have moved on. Everyone is now paid the same rate of pay and as other retailers have shown the way forward is for all colleagues to be able to complete every task.

Sadly if you don't believe serving customers is part of your job role perhaps retail in 2022 isn't the right career for you.

Nomad

A Till is a Till is a Till, by any name or any mode of machinery.
Nomad ( Forum Admin )
It's better to be up in arms than down on your knees.

lackofinterest

#167
Have usdaw clarified this to colleagues and if not why not?

T.C.1

#168
Wow just read Telegraph online that Tesco have won a court case of fire and rehire wonder if this will effect colleagues in the future?

Hibobhi

#169
Quote from: londoner83 on 15-07-22, 07:50AMThe agreement does nothing to prevent colleagues being trained on self serve or scan as you shop as both technologies didn't exist when the 2005 deal was signed....and it's a long standing legal principle that deals won't cover yet to be invented future technology. Erm self service tills where introduced into Tesco in 2003. So I can't possibly understand why the 2005 agreement doesn't cover self service, mind I actually haven't read the agreement

In 2005 there was a clear need for the deal - Shopfloor staff were paid B rate whilst those on tills were paid a higher c rate. It was clearly unfair to expect people to do jobs above their pay grade.

However times and retail have moved on. Everyone is now paid the same rate of pay and as other retailers have shown the way forward is for all colleagues to be able to complete every task.

Sadly if you don't believe serving customers is part of your job role perhaps retail in 2022 isn't the right career for you.
self service tills where introduced into Tesco in 2003.

Redshoes

The tills have changed so much over the years. They are really so simple now. The reasons people don't want to go on checkouts has mostly been to do with fear of handling money. The processing of cash is much easier and most customers pay by card. We don't touch customers bank cards now. We don't take cheques. We don't give Cashback, other than at CSD. Other than that people just don't want to go on tills. I get that there is that one extra task that some can opt out of but the customers pay our wages, none of us would have jobs without them. That whole shopping experience ends with going through a till.

Nomad

"none of us would have jobs without them" you may not have your present employer but the customers would all need to shop elsewhere and therefore that is where you would possibly find a job. NO retailing company is indispensable.
Nomad ( Forum Admin )
It's better to be up in arms than down on your knees.

madness

Quote from: londoner83 on 10-07-22, 07:49AMYes the overwhelming majority of colleagues are now not paid for the first 3 days of sickness. Wouldn't be surprised if at some point in time Tesco try to buy out the remaining people's rights.

I doubt it.
The two remaining in our store are old school and don't take the mikey with sickness.

lucgeo

" That whole shopping experience ends with going through a till"

There you go...they're classed as tills, used to checkout, so by definition should be covered under the 2005 agreement!

Another back door attempt to erode the agreement!  >:(

Self service were slowly introduced pre 2005 but not commonplace in most stores, hence they weren't included.
Live for today. Learn from yesterday.

Redshoes

A till is a till, then it's broken down into a SS till, a main bank till etc.
replenishment is replenishment but then it's broken down into grocery, fresh or non food etc.
A colleague is also a colleague and then broken down into role. So by the same argument we are all just colleagues.

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