Supermarket staff in Oxfordshire will no longer strike, after an improved offer has been agreed in a dispute over pay.  

Tesco employees, including warehouse staff and HGV drivers, based at the supermarket’s depot in Didcot were set to strike for an initial 48 hours beginning at 6am on December 16.

This would have then been followed by a further five days stoppages throughout December and into January.

Unite, the second largest trade union in the UK, held fresh talks with the company and an improved offer was made.

The Tesco workers have been offered a minimum of a 5.5 per cent increase backdated to July 2021, the anniversary date for annual pay increases, and an additional 0.5 per cent from February 2022.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Tesco’s improved offer shows what can be achieved by our members standing together.  Given that the company has forecast profits for 2021 topping £2.5 billion an improved offer is the least Tesco workers could expect".

“Unite is the union which always puts the jobs, pay and conditions of its members first and in doing so it is consistently securing improved pay deals for its members.”

In addition Unite has secured an agreement with Tesco for a formal dialogue on revising the current system of legacy and new generation contracts. If agreed this would create a single pay scale for all the work being undertaken in the distribution centres.

Unite will now ballot its members on the deal and is recommending its acceptance.

If the deal is rejected by the members then fresh strike action will be announced but that is unlikely to be before January 2022.

Unite national officer Adrian Jones said: “Right from the beginning of this dispute Unite has been clear that Tesco could afford to make a more generous offer and that has proved to be the case.

“It is now up to Unite’s members to decide if the proposed deal meets their expectations.”

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