John Merrell, Leicester Socialist Party
I have moved house four times in the last eight years. On two of those occasions, the local Co-op supermarket closed in the following 12 months. And now my present Co-op has closed too.
The loyal staff, with decades of service, were told a few weeks before that it would close on 6 December. One of the staff, due to retire mid-December, brought forward her departure to the 5th, only to discover that Co-op’s dash for the exit had been brought forward to 30 November. Bosses are making cuts to increase profits.
At the back of the store, I spoke to two staff. One who was being retained by the new owners, who are expanding the shop’s 14 hours to 24 hours’ opening, said: “We’re losing all our benefits”.
The staff are members of shop workers’ union Usdaw. One recently completed a trade union stewards’ training course.
I recommended she urgently contact the union about the new owners reneging on their Tupe obligations, which are supposed to protect working conditions when being transferred between companies. The look on her face reflected the bosses’ brutal, breakneck speed in carrying out the closure and reopening.
I left them to continue their emptying of the store, wishing them well in a most uncertain future. Whilst at the front, bemused customers tapped on the locked, windowed doors, where the lights were on, but nobody was at home.
