Staff at an Asda store in Brighton are due to walk out for almost 24 hours in just under a fortnight’s time.
The strike follows a ballot of members of the GMB union working at the Hollingbury branch, in Crowhurst Road, and the Brighton Marina store.
Workers at the Hollingbury Asda voted in favour of strike action while the vote at the Brighton Marina branch fell short of the numbers needed.
Now, the GMB is preparing for a strike at the Hollingbury store starting at 8pm on Friday 24 May and ending on Saturday 25 May at 3pm.
The ballot results were announced last month when the GMB said that members at Brighton Hollingbury had become the latest to vote to take industrial action.
The union said: “The dispute centres around a number of concerns raised by members in the store, including health and safety issues and management bullying.
“GMB members have previously taken strike action in Asda stores in Gosport, in Hampshire, and Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire.”
GMB regional organiser Declan MacIntyre said: “Four months ago, no Asda store had seen its colleagues vote for strike action.
“Since then, Asda colleagues in Gosport and Wisbech have been out on strike and now workers in Brighton have voted for strike action too.
“This is about Asda workers demanding to be heard.
“It is the GMB members themselves deciding that enough is enough and standing up to take action.
“Asda is financed by TDR Capital and GMB have grave concerns that their heads might be turned by the debt pile of their other asset, Stonegate pub group.
“Let’s hope this ballot result refocuses their attention on the plight of our members.”
Well done for taking stand . I use work in better times .
Have shopped in there for years and see many of the same staff who are dencent peopl who deserve far more respect and better treatment.
They should only allow self check out for baskets and the staff are doing themselves out of work allowing this policy i.e you go in, load up your trolley… laboriously unload it and scan every item at a low level…. re-load your trolley then unload it again into your vehicle… scandalous
The shop is hopeless. Constant moving of stock locations, loads of empty shelves, lack of trollies, only a couple of staffed checkouts, tatty run down car park.
Worst of all, a self checkout supervisor who have s still wearing a face mask……..come on its 2024 !
How can you have a “run down car park”? It is a bit of tarmac. Not even got any pot holes last time I looked.
And if someone is wearing a mask this sounds like a positive. It means you are not going to get their cold\flu\etc. No one is forcing you to wear a mask.
Maybe stick to Waitrose…
Good idea mush
Someone with a public facing job who doesn’t want to get ill… what a Monster.
And all of those things (other than a staff member chosing to stay masked) are down to the management of the store and their managers
The staff can’t stock the shelves in management hasn’t done the ordering.
Management decide on which staff does what task
Many years ago I used to work for ASDA and there was regular changes in where things were located but that came from head office with photos of what should go where etc. And then a couple of weeks later they would send in secret shoppers to check it had been done.
But if you want improments contact ASDA head office and tell them!
I know the person who wears a mask and they’re a smashing person! Always nice! Always polite! Always helpful!
So leave them alone!
I say GOOD LUCK to ASDA staff!
They’re a smashing bunch!
And the management and directors don’t know it or appreciate it!
Don’t forget! Supermarket staff are paid little over £9ph! And that’s officially classed as poverty wages! And these people stayed open and carried on ALL THROUGH Covid lockdown so you didn’t starve!!!
Oh and the car park is land rented from the council and is the council’s responsibility!!!
With a face like yours we all wish you would wear a face mask
There are so many issues with this store. The scan and shop handsets very rarely get replished. When they do they don’t work or crash. Ailes change weekly which is a tactic used to make ypu spend more as you walk around the store longer. Half filled shelves, stressed staff, security who are either over zealous or don’t care. Freezers left open or are broken. Hazards on the shop floor, boxes left empty on shelves with products behind them.
Needs an overhaul desperately
It’s a sham of a place and I’m fully in support of strike action. However management will not listen and will just respond by saying make them work harder! Home shopping is a joke, that’s where all your colleagues are if you can’t find one working the tills
Their loss plenty of other Supermarkets no more expensive what good is it going to do I very rarely go there
Work shy. If you dont like it resign. No one is forcing you to work there.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this is true. Many people feel stuck in their jobs and can’t afford to upskill or spend the time to job hunt.
Have you ever worked for a supermarket like asda and being ripped off in your pay every month. Well same reason nobody is turning up for work at the store I work at. Thinking we are skivvies . I’m glad these staff are striking
Will the store be closed due to strike action? I seem to remember only about 50 or 60, of the GMB members, out of some 350 total staff voted to strike.
Most likely will stay open, I remember years ago when only 6 staff managed to get into work during a freeze at the Marina branch. They stayed open.
Fair play to them. As a customer I’ve seen the way management talks to their staff and it makes me want to avoid asda at all costs! People work to live not live to work! I hope the strike members get treated like actual human beings after this at least.
Hollingbury – Whether it is the staff, store management, or the national management, this store is as good as useless.
Empty shelves, no self-weigh scales working for years, so no shopping by app if you want anything fresh, even if they had anything in, which they mostly don’t..
It is possibly the worst supermarket I have ever had the misfortune to have used.
I have also used the Marina store on occasions, but can you understand a supermarket at a seafront Marina, in what was originally established as a fishing town, not having a fresh fish counter? It’s appalling. It’s better than Hollingbury, though.
Since finding Brighton stores being very badly run for many years, I have found recently that Burgh Heath (I pass it on work travels a few times most weeks) is now going the same way, with reduced stock and staff that no longer appear to care.
Do us all a favour and let Tesco take over.
Re: fish counters, they’re expensive to run (staff specifically trained, energy use, wastage is usually quite high) and don’t sell anywhere near enough to cover the cost. Today’s consumers tend to find fish “yucky” and don’t like the sight or smell of the counter, and fresh seafood is outside the diet of most people too. Frozen seafood doesn’t smell, wastes less, and appeals to the consumer with convenience (e.g. fish fingers vs kippers). Sad but true.
The owners of Asda are very shady people. Took over with millions of debt. Predator capitalism at its worse.
There’s a discussion about the pub chain they own being a priority for them.
Since these bros,took over!the store has gone down a bit the working staff are brilliant (management) I’m not sure about those! But theres no place for bullying, in any environment, least of all at work. That’s both stores,the marina seems more laid back,
Most of the staff at the Hollingbury Store are fab – I go there every week. They are friendly and helpful and I am on first name terms with a few of them. They deserve better working conditions and better pay and benefits. I support them all the way. Big corporations need to realise that nothing runs well without happy, well-treated workers on the shop floor! Good luck guys.
It’s my local shop , I will willingly stand on the picket line asa dedicated trade Unionist living in Patcham .
A Case Of Look After Your Staff And They will Look after You
The most lackadaisical supermarket staff(marina) that I think I’ve ever come across. As for the state and cleanliness of the store…. give them tuppence an hour more…
I really think the should have a store in Newhaven now near to the river and near to the house to and the carcass ferry now like was like 5 or 17 years ago