All M&S shopworkers were put under threat of redundancy in November 2016 when the company announced a restructuring that would affect more than 100 shops, but did not say which stores will close. This is yet another wave of closures.
Dave Gill - Usdaw National Officer says: “M&S management are not treating their staff with the dignity and respect they deserve. Their piecemeal approach to reorganising the business is extremely distressing for the staff, when the threat of redundancy hangs over every M&S shopworker.
“Usdaw has thousands of members working for Marks and Spencer and the staff now, more than ever, need the representation and support of an independent trade union; an experienced and knowledgeable trade union interrogating the company's business case for this store reorganisation.
“We again urge M&S management to abandon their long-held resistance to allowing Usdaw to represent the staff. It is simply unjust that the company have made the decision not to engage with a trade union. The staff are telling us they want Usdaw to represent them not BIG Group, the in-house staff association. It should be their choice.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 400,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter
@UsdawUnion