Customers of catalogue retailer Argos will face severe disruption when warehouse staff stage three weeks of strikes, it is claimed.
The Unite union, which represents the 1,100 workers affected, said deliveries to customers will be severely hit by the stoppage, which will run from the early hours of Tuesday, August 15, to the early morning of Tuesday, September 5.
The strike action involves workers at five sites, including Argos distribution centres in Castleford and Heywood, near Manchester.
However, a spokesperson for Argos, which has stores at Victoria Lane and Leeds Road Retail Park in Huddersfield and in Dewsbury and Birstall, said customers would not be impacted.
The union said members had voted for strike action by a margin of 10 to one after Argos, which is owned by supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, failed to negotiate a national agreement covering redundancy and severance packages.
Unite national officer Matt Draper said: “These strikes will enormously affect deliveries to Argos customers as the firm works on ‘a just in time’ delivery policy. Even the smallest disruption or delay will adversely impact on the supply chain.
“We call on the management to negotiate a new agreement in a constructive manner and in good faith, otherwise this industrial action that our members overwhelmingly voted for, will go ahead. Unite’s door for talks remains open 24/7.”
An Argos spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed with the union’s actions, which are based on unreasonable demands and are wholly unnecessary. Customers will not be impacted and should be reassured that full contingency plans are in place.”
