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23 Oct 2025

Mayo Tesco workers to strike on Thursday

Mayo Tesco workers to strike on Thursday

Company states Mayo stores will ‘open as normal’ tomorrow

Ciara Galvin

UP to 250 Tesco workers in Mayo will take to the picket line tomorrow (Thursday).
Staff in three Tesco stores in the county are to strike on Thursday morning from 7am in an effort to force the company to withdraw proposed changes to pay and conditions of employment for staff on contract pre 1996.
It comes after talks with at the Workplace Relations Committee broke down yesterday (Thursday).
Workers who are members of the Mandate Union in stores in Ballina, Westport and Castlebar will strike indefinitely as they oppose proposed changes by the company such as 15 to 35 percent pay cuts, cuts to overtime, reduction in annual bonus and changes to rosters.
A proposed change could also see cuts to Sunday and unsociable hours premiums from double pay to time and a half.
Speaking to The Mayo News ahead of the proposed strike action, Mayo Divisional Organiser CiarΡn Campbell said the situation was ‘very much resolvable’.
“As a union official we don’t like doing this [picketing]. It’s not nice to be losing wages. I’m in Mandate close to 15 years and I’ve never known a company not to go to the Labour Court,” explained Mr Campbell.
Asked how the strikes will affect shoppers in Mayo, Mr Campbell said it will be difficult to see how the strike will not affect customers.
“The company is saying it will be business as usual but it’s difficult to see how they can conduct business when staff are on picket duty. We would expect the public to be very supportive of us.”

Support
Mr Campbell said since Tesco announced the proposed changes to pay and conditions for its staff in January, shoppers have been ‘very supportive’.
“Shoppers have been asking ‘why haven’t ye gone out on strike’?,” said Campbell.
In a statement released by Tesco, the company said it was ‘extremely disappointed’ with Mandate’s announcement to hold strike action.
The company believes that because it has not implemented the proposed changes to the 300 staff on the pre 1996/97 contract, it considers the strike action to be ‘inconsistent with the ballot which only mandated action in the event we implement change’.
The statement continued: “We deferred the proposed implementation date for this contract change to facilitate constructive discussions in the WRC (Work Relations Commission), for which we have always been available, and we made no decision at the WRC about setting a new implementation date. Further only 30 percent of colleagues in affected stores eligible to vote actually voted in support of this action.”
Tesco has said its stores and online service will be ‘open for business as normal’ on Thursday.

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