Tesco employees call strike in Hungary for Friday, Saturday

Employees of the Tesco-Global company will go on strike from 4pm till midnight on Friday and from 10am till midnight on Saturday, head of the Independent Union of Retail Employees (KDFSZ) announced shortly before the start of the strike. 

Support for the strike is “enormous”, Csaba Bubenko said, adding that several dozen stores had joined the initiative. The union is open to reaching an agreement with the employer and intends to carry on with negotiations, he added.

Zoltán Karsai of the Union of Retail Employees (KASZ) said that instead of a slowdown, where strikers impede production or services, Tesco employees will lay down work completely for the duration of the strike, possibly causing the shutdown of certain stores.

KDFSZ announced a countrywide strike on Monday, without giving a date. Bubenko said then unions demand a 25 percent wage hike and a 15 percent raise in the number of employees, Karsai said.

In a statement, Tesco said it regretted that the unions chose to strike and that it was ready to continue negotiations. The company will focus on providing high quality services during the strike, the statement said.

As we wrote, employees demand trade unions not to accept any compromises. Another discussion was held with the strike committees at Tesco. The topic of the debate is the time and the way of the first national walkout in the units of the multinational market chain. Recruiting and preparing contact persons is in progress. The employees all agree that trade unions shall not accept any compromises.

Photo: szeged.hu

Source: MTI