Paul Murphy confronts Tesco over security staff outsourcing
Paul Murphy raised concerns about Tesco's treatment of its retail security officers, criticising the company's decision to outsource their jobs to OCS and warning of downgraded pay and conditions. He said the outsourcing notice came instead of a deserved pay rise and called for the threat to be withdrawn and for proper negotiation and protections for workers' entitlements.
Allegations against Tesco
Paul Murphy said Tesco informed retail security officers last week that their jobs were being outsourced, giving them a few weeks to decide between a severance package or transfer to a private company, OCS. He noted these were essential workers during Covid who had gone three years without a pay rise and who face downgraded pay conditions if transferred.
Workers' response
He reported that workers are outraged, saying there was no dialogue or discussion and that Tesco attempted to ram through the outsourcing agenda. Murphy said he met with a number of affected staff who described heightened stress and difficulty during the pandemic and a lack of engagement from the employer.
Demands and parliamentary questions
Paul Murphy asked whether the outsourcing threat should be withdrawn and argued that the workers should instead receive a pay increase in recognition of their work. He asked the Taoiseach to acknowledge the company's behaviour as unacceptable and to support protections for the workers.
Labour relations and protections
Murphy emphasised that there are mechanisms for resolving such issues through labour relations processes and that workers' rights should be protected in any transfer. He stressed that entitlements to pensions, pay and conditions must be safeguarded and that proper negotiation processes are required.
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I want to raise with the Taoiseach the treatment by Tesco of its retail security officers. These were essential workers who helped to keep our supermarkets open during Covid, whose jobs became a lot more stressful and difficult during Covid, who were in their third year without a pay rise. Last week, instead of Tesco contacting them and saying, here is the pay rise that you deserve after all the hard work you have done, Tesco contacted them and said, your jobs are being outsourced, you have a few weeks to decide, and then either you get a severance package or you get transferred over to a private company, OCS, where inevitably pay conditions, terms will be downgraded. The workers are outraged. I met with a whole number of them last week. They say there was no dialogue or discussion with them whatsoever, and Tesco was simply attempting to ram through this outsourcing agenda. Taoiseach, do you agree that this is horrifically bad behaviour by Tesco's? Do you agree that the outsourcing threat should be withdrawn, and instead these workers should be recognised with actually a pay increase? Taoiseach, in terms of Tesco, in terms of Tesco, they entered into, again, there are mechanisms there for having these issues resolved through the labour relations mechanisms, and workers' rights should be protected, in respect to entitlements to pensions, pay and conditions, in any such transfers, but there should be proper negotiation processes in that regard. proyecto eco-based ownership supremacy vision vision vision vision vision vision vision vision vision vision vision vision
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