"Asda workers protest across UK over controversial contract", 5 September 2019

UK Asda workers are staging protests today over the imposition of Contract 6...

...According to general trade union GMB, the supermarket giant is ‘punishing’ workers that haven’t signed the new contract by not giving them paid sick leave until they have signed. If they do not sign, they face unemployment on 2 November...

...GMB members have said the new contract is ‘forcing’ them to pick between caring for unwell relatives or losing their jobs just before Christmas.

The protests will take place at Asda stores in Liverpool, London, Hull, Crewe, Dundee, Sheffield, Glasgow, Cwmbran, South Shields, Sheffield, Stockport, Portsmouth, Livingston and Newcastle-under-Lyme...

 ...An Asda spokesperson told Retail Insight Network: “...This contract is about increasing the take-home pay of more than 10,000 retail colleagues...and ensuring that everyone doing the same job is on the same terms and conditions. The overwhelming majority of our colleagues...have signed onto 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. We understand colleagues have commitments outside of work and will not be asking them to constantly move the time they work, their days or departments.”