Tesco workers vote overwhelmingly to accept 2% pay increase from 1 January 2013

The Mandate Trade Union has this afternoon announced that its members in Tesco have voted overwhelmingly to accept a 2% pay increase from 1 January 2013. This is the first pay increase that Tesco’s 13,000 staff will have received in over four years and they have been balloted on it over recent weeks. The workers’ votes from across the country were counted in Mandate’s Head Office in Dublin this morning and the outcome was that 79% voted in favour of the proposal and 21% against.

Brendan O’Hanlon, Mandate Divisional Organiser explained the main terms of the deal accepted by Tesco staff.

“Existing rates of pay will remain unchanged for the remainder of 2012 but from 1 January next, workers’ pay will increase by 2%. Because the incremental pay scales at Tesco will be maintained, this will mean that all employees will be eligible for a pay rise in line with the new pay scales. This agreement will cover the period up to and including the end of February 2014.”

Tullamore Tesco worker Dolores McKenna spoke on the outcome saying: “In this climate the pay increase will mean a lot to all of us, many of us have been hit hard by the increased cost in living and this increase will help Tesco workers pay those bills. Being in Mandate Trade Union was key to the success of this 2% increase, I honestly believe that without them at the table with us we would never have gotten this outcome. ”

Commenting on the outcome of the ballot, Assistant General Secretary, Gerry Light, said that this development is significant for a number of reasons.

“Firstly it is heartening to be dealing with actual pay increases as opposed to the experience of wage stagnation which our members in Tesco and elsewhere have had to endure for the last number of years. Secondly our members in Tesco have not been required to give any major concessions in return for the pay increase and thirdly this offer – coming as it does from one of Ireland’s biggest private sector employers and, most certainly the largest in retail – sets a very significant and appropriate benchmark for others operating in the sector. Following on the heels of the Marks and Spencer deal – which saw Mandate members receive a similar increase – this can only be seen as a positive trend and one which we intend to maximise for our members across the retail sector in the future, concluded Mr Light.