The 3 -week strike of 280 Unite members at the Huntworth ARGOS warehouse is still on, after ACAS talks broke up on Thursday without agreement.
Bridgwater Trades Union Council is asking all local trades unionists to show their solidarity over the next few days by helping give out the Unite strike leaflet , helping give out the Bridgwater TUC solidarity leaflet, turning up for the Unite ARGOS strike picket SOLIDARITY HOUR on Tuesday 29th August from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and sending messages of support/solidarity to the Bridgwater Unite ARGOS striker.
Local Labour members have been joining supporters on the picket line and in solidarity action in the Town Centre and outside the Argos store. Cllr Brian Smedley, Bridgwater Town Council Leader, said ” This strike is not just about workers defending their terms and conditions, which they have every right to do, it’s about the openess of the dealings between the management and workers and the potential of losing the Argos brand in Bridgwater and people may not be aware that Argos has been bought out by Sainsburys. I would urge Labour members to support the solidarity action and stick up for our town and its future.”
Argos strikers have put out the following statement
WHY ARE WE ON STRIKE?
A number of months ago, Argos announced that it was transferring out its site at Magna Park to a third party contractor Wincanton it then subsequently announced it was shutting the site at Magna and transferring the work to Kettering nearly 30 miles away.
This meant a loyal workforce was expected to absorb these changes and travel to Kettering.
We approached Argos and ask for guarantees relating to maintaining any transferred site with a direct link to Argos. We also wanted to agree a relocation and Redundancy/Severance package in the event of transfer. We also requested that the Argos site at Barton be allowed to join with other in-house sites for bargaining purposes.
We have failed to get sufficient guarantees from the company, hence this strike action.
Our claims have been called unreasonable by Argos!
- IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO ASK FOR A RELOCATION PACKAGE IF THE SITE YOU ARE WORKING AT IS SHUT AND WORK MOVED MILES AWAY
- IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO ASK FOR AGREED REDUNDANCY OR SEVERANCE TERMS IF LOYAL WORKERS CANNOT TRANSFER
- IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO MAINTAIN A LINK WITH THE ECONOMIC EMPLOYER ARGOS
- IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO ALLOW A DEMOCRATIC BALLOT TO TAKE PLACE FOR WORKERS TO DECIDE HOW THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE NEGOTIATED
IT IS ARGOS WHO ARE BEING UNREASONABLE, WE ARE LOOKING TO GET GUARANTEES ABOUT OUR FUTURES, ARGOS IS LOOKING TO ATTACK OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THE FUTURE