Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tesco is one of the most profitable retailers in the Republic of Ireland. It employs 14,500 staff nationwide in 139 stores. It generated €1.2 billion of sales for the first six months of 2016. It is completely unacceptable for Tesco management to change the existing employment contracts of staff unilaterally without their agreement.

There are just under 300 workers on the pre-1996 contracts. They will see their wages drop by 15%. Seventy per cent of the Tesco workforce is female and, by and large, they are not particularly well paid. I visited the workers picketing outside Artane Castle last week. Those workers on pre-1996 contracts were joined by their colleagues who feared they would be targeted next if this protest failed. It was a freezing cold day and it was very regrettable that they were forced to take this action.

The attitude of Tesco management is very worrying in Ireland of 2017. This dispute has national implications in that established industrial relations practices must be adhered to and defended.

I also question the need for full page advertisements in the national press. Tesco management would have been much better off giving that money to charity.

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