Wilko staff extend strike over ‘brutal’ weekend rotas

Approximately 1,800 staff at the retailer’s warehouses in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and Magor, Monmouthshire are due to walk out for 24 hours on October 21 and 22, effectively making it a two-day stoppage.

These strike days come in addition to planned action on October 11 and 14.

The strike days follow an industrial action ballot in which more than 84% of workers voted to strike over the rota changes by management.

GMB national officer Gary Carter said: “These brutal rotas just won’t work, and seven-day deliveries have not improved availability in store.

“Wilko has struggled with stock, transport and there aren’t enough employees in-store to get goods on the shelves.

“Wilko needs to change the rotas and rebuild its relationship with the workforce.”

A Wilko spokesperson said: “We’re sorry it has come to this and would like to reassure our customers and team members that we have robust plans in place so they can continue to shop and work with us as normal.

“We’re the last of the major retailers to introduce regular weekend working in our distribution centres as a result of customer demand for seven days a week shopping.

“We want to support our team members in responding to the 24/7 reality of retailing today while also helping them to spend as much time as possible with their families.

“We’ve already given 400 team members an additional weekend off before our peak trading period begins and in a recent meeting with the union, we’ve also offered to guarantee 2 in 3 weekends off outside of peak from January 2020 onwards.

“We don’t believe industrial action is in anyone’s best interests at this challenging time for the high street and retail in general. We have always believed the right way to resolve any differences is through listening, talking and working things through together and we encourage the GMB to call off their the strike and join us in finding a way forward which works for both our customers and their members.”