Being pushed out of my job

trillion

I work as a supermarket shelf stacker and have done for fourteen years now.

In the past year or so, new working practices and targets have been introduced which are designed to cut costs.
It’s been made clear that if staff fail to hit these targets, it’s a disciplinary matter and that regular failure to do so will result in people having to be ‘let go’.
A large proportion of manager’s salary is made up of bonuses if they ‘achieve’.

In the last few months, out of a workforce of round 25, one person has been pressured into retiring when they would have liked to take advantage of a scheme which allows them to work part time past the age of 65, another has been shunted off to a different department, against their wishes and on a new ‘flexible’ contract which gives them core hours of only 7.5 hours per week, and another has been dismissed on rather spurious grounds of not adhering to the guidelines provided.
Anecdotally, in the past few weeks, one worker has suffered a heart attack and another a stroke, and yet another has left of his own volition after an extended period of stress and depression.

All of these people were longstanding employees on old contracts which provided fixed working hours, sick pay from the first day of sickness (flexi contracts do not), enhanced payments for overtime and unsocial hours work etc.
They were also – with the exception of one – mature people over the age off 55.
New (younger) staff have been taken on (on flexible contracts with low core hours and none of the benefits the old contracts offered.) to cover some of these gaps.

I now find myself in the position of being the next one on the list, having found myself in the office three times in four weeks having to explain either why I failed to complete the tasks allotted, or why I took short cuts in order to do so.

I feel there is little I can do but wait to be dismissed as if I leave, I won’t be entitled to any benefits.
I’m a member of the union but to be frank, there appears to be little they can do.
If the company want rid of you, they’ll find a way.

Can anyone out there offer any advice?

SarEl

I am not convinced that you are incorrect - I think that it would be very difficult to prove unfairness in law since they appear to be setting their strategy against set targets and objectives thgat are applied to everyone, on eprformance grounds. But I think your union is perhaps the only way to go - if you are dismissed it is still possible that benefits would be sanctioned since resigning or getting dismissed can both be classified as making yourself intentionally unemployed. So if nothing else a record of raising objections and grievances etc about your treatment may provide some evidence that you didn't "deliberately loose your job", and may provide the union with some ammunition for unfair dismissal or age discrimination.

DebiT

trillion wrote: »

I work as a supermarket shelf stacker and have done for fourteen years now.

In the past year or so, new working practices and targets have been introduced which are designed to cut costs.
It’s been made clear that if staff fail to hit these targets, it’s a disciplinary matter and that regular failure to do so will result in people having to be ‘let go’.
A large proportion of manager’s salary is made up of bonuses if they ‘achieve’.

In the last few months, out of a workforce of round 25, one person has been pressured into retiring when they would have liked to take advantage of a scheme which allows them to work part time past the age of 65, another has been shunted off to a different department, against their wishes and on a new ‘flexible’ contract which gives them core hours of only 7.5 hours per week, and another has been dismissed on rather spurious grounds of not adhering to the guidelines provided.
Anecdotally, in the past few weeks, one worker has suffered a heart attack and another a stroke, and yet another has left of his own volition after an extended period of stress and depression.

All of these people were longstanding employees on old contracts which provided fixed working hours, sick pay from the first day of sickness (flexi contracts do not), enhanced payments for overtime and unsocial hours work etc.
They were also – with the exception of one – mature people over the age off 55.
New (younger) staff have been taken on (on flexible contracts with low core hours and none of the benefits the old contracts offered.) to cover some of these gaps.

I now find myself in the position of being the next one on the list, having found myself in the office three times in four weeks having to explain either why I failed to complete the tasks allotted, or why I took short cuts in order to do so.

I feel there is little I can do but wait to be dismissed as if I leave, I won’t be entitled to any benefits.
I’m a member of the union but to be frank, there appears to be little they can do.
If the company want rid of you, they’ll find a way.

Can anyone out there offer any advice?

Sorry to hear about your problems OP. It seems the Company are looking to replace longer term workers who are on better wages and have more rights with youngsters they can pay minimum wage to, and whom they can sack more easily. It wouldnt surprise me if they also started taking on workfare so that they can save as much on wages as possible.
Its a shame your union arent more helpful, perhaps you could get some advice from the CAB?

macalacka

Do you work for one of the big chain supermarkets? If so I would contact their HR department in their head office.

It does sound as though they are being a little sneaky and trying to get people onto the new contracts, it sounds that it's unfortunate that the longer serving and therefore older employee's are on the more generous contracts but that's a sign of the times. It used to be like that when I worked for ASDA. My older peers would be paid double time for working the same hours I did on a Sunday!

I now work in HR and have worked for a number of retailers in their head office. From an employee point of view and being an employee myself, I'd raise a grievance about the number of times you have been "summoned" into the office! It would be good to see if your peers on the newer contract make the same mistakes as you. If they do and are NOT summoned then you could raise a grievance owing to age discrimination. However, this is not the most effective route but a good one to be a pain in the bum and highlight to them that you are on their case....

Can you share with us the specific examples of when you have "taken short cuts" or not completed a task?

trillion

Yes I work for a BIG chain of supermarkets!

The Night Manager insists that backstock is worked before the delivery. The night she returned from holiday, I was faced with 4 cages stuffed with random backstock as noone had been 'in charge' of the aisle for several days and only delivery had been worked. At 4.30am the Section Manager shoved 3 cages of delivery into the aisle and told me it had to be done. I did it.
The following night, the Night Manager returned, saw the backstock cages and demanded to know why I hadn't worked it, I replied that the Section Manager had told me to do the delivery.
Section Manager took me into the office and asked exactly when he had told me not to work the backstock. Of course he hadn't used those words but he knew it was there, and he insisted I complete the delivery knowing that it would have been impossible to work 7 cages in 2 hours. (in the end, the Night Manager and 3 others worked the backstock between them and it took over an hour).

Second time, it was a proper 'Informal Interview' about the colour of my shoes not being in line with uniform requirements (they were clean white trainers). Two other staff were wearing back and white check skater boots.

Third time, Night Manager tipped three quarters of a cage of delivery on to the floor shortly before the store opened to customers. I worked one cage of backstock by which time customers were in and struggling to push their trollies round the obstruction, so I decided to get the stuff off the floor and onto the shelf. Manager came to take the two cages of backstock back to the warehouse and I told her I hadn't worked one of them yet, but that once I'd cleared the floor, I had time to do it.

Cue another 'Informal' with the Section Manager.

The previous week, Section manager had dumped a load of delivery on the floor too, in order to get to the items on the bottom of the cage, which he promptly took into the warehouse and put on backstock cages without them getting near a shelf.

Incidentally, I work on dry grocery (tins, packets etc) not fresh, date sensitive items, which I fully understand must be worked in order.

The last person I know who decided to be a 'pain in the bum' was effectively sent to Coventry and has now gone.