"Asda staff in Leeds protest over new working contract", 14 August 2019

Hundreds of Asda workers...held a rally and march in Leeds over the details of a new contract.The protest by staff from across the country was organised by the GMB union.

Asda is offering staff a higher wage in exchange for a new contract that would introduce unpaid breaks and a requirement to work on bank holidays. Asda said it would increase the pay "of more than 100,000" staff. The GMB said the "highly-profitable" firm "could afford to treat staff better"...

 ...GMB national officer Gary Carter, said: "Asda is a multibillion-pound, highly-profitable company and it can afford to treat staff better than this..."

Asda said the new contract was "an investment of more than £80m, and ensuring that everyone doing the same job is on the same terms and conditions...The retail sector is undergoing significant change and it is important that we are able to keep pace with these changes...The overwhelming majority of our colleagues have signed on to the new contracts and while we appreciate that some of our colleagues find the changes more unsettling, we do not want any of them to leave."