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Lidl distribution centre staff need Usdaw to give them a voice at work

Date: 28 March 2018 Usdaw, the trade union for Lidl staff, is continuing the long-running campaign for recognition with three further campaign days, tomorrow, Good Friday and Saturday, at distribution centres across the UK in: Exeter (Devon), Enfield (North London), Wednesbury (West Midlands), Aycliffe (County Durham), Belvedere (South East London) and Runcorn (Cheshire).

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw’s General Secretary Elect says: “We had successful campaign days at the beginning of March at these distribution centres, so we are continuing the conversations with staff over the next few days.

“It is very unfortunate that the company continues to refuse to allow our union officials on site to talk to staff in a grown up and civilised way about the benefits of joining Usdaw. I was particularly disappointed to receive reports from our campaigners that site managers had conducted surveillance on their activities and refused to allow them to stand outside staff entrances or even along the access roads to depots.

“The company now needs to sit down with Usdaw to overcome the significant issues their staff are telling us about, including poor health and safety, unreasonable volume of work and difficult to achieve performance targets, not receiving enough notice of rotas, unpaid hours after the shift has finished, discrimination and bullying from managers.

“Many Lidl workers are joining Usdaw and we urge others to sign up to the union, so that Usdaw can help get them a better deal and help when things are going wrong.

“Good industrial relations are important for business and that requires the staff having a voice, through an independent trade union, so that they get a proper say in their working lives. We urge the company to end their continued opposition to trade unions and meet with Usdaw to talk about recognising us as the trade union for Lidl staff.”

What the staff say: Below are direct quotes from Lidl distribution centre staff, highlighting their issues of concern:
“Always pressured to produce more than is capable in a tight time frame.”

"Don’t know if my job is secure, as they are changing everything all the time which make it’s harder for an employee to hit targets. Certain employees get disciplined, other employees doing the same thing get away with it. Targets are set for some people.”

“If your face doesn't fit it's a hard job"

“Quite often there is not enough staff in so you end up working on your own.”

“On going back injury, leaving me able to pick in 3 areas rather than the desirable 9.”

“Unreasonable workload to achieve productivity targets.”

“Volume of work is reasonable but deadlines set are infeasible.”

“Warehouse is always very cramped. Lots of accidents with pickers as some do not obey or understand the routes and rules of the warehouse. Some trucks travel too fast.”

“I'm in the health and safety committee and things are mentioned that are dangerous and even after a year it's still the same. People get injured due to pick rates being hard to achieve.”

“Lidl have a culture of health and safety is only important after something goes wrong, the training process is a joke at best.”

“My employer cares more about my performance than health and safety.”

Notes for editors:

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.

The ongoing Lidl recognition campaign continues with a focus on seven sites over the next three days, located at: