At 7am Monday May 16th over 70 Tesco Stores will be closed as staff enter the picket line. The Tesco employees are protesting changes in conditions of employment that will affect 300 staff of the Grocery Retailer, who have been working for Tesco since 1996 and before. Mandate Trade Union have said that strikes will go on indefinitely until staff are willing to accept proposals made by Tesco.

The changes that have led to protest include:

  • Change to rosters
  • Annual Bonus reduction
  • 15% – 35% pay cuts
  • Sunday hour pay being reduced

However, the exact location of the protests are not yet known, with Tesco Ireland stating that all stores and online services will be available. It is believed the stores that are due to picket will be announced in the upcoming days. Gerry Light of Mandate Trade Union said ‘’We remain committed to reaching agreement on this issue and earlier this week we formally tabled a generous proposal for compensation for colleagues in scope. We need to make this change in order to improve our customer service at our busiest times of the week.’’