Unite, the UK’s leading union, has secured a ground breaking deal to secure the jobs of tanker drivers employed on the ASDA and Euro Garages contracts.

The deal was secured after the drivers voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.

The drivers on the ASDA North and South Contracts are employed on an outsourced contract by Fuel Transport and Logistics Ltd (FTL) and those on the Euro Garages contract are employed by Hoyer Gas and Petroleum.

Workers' fears

The workers were alarmed that the owners of ASDA and Euro Garages, the Issa brothers, were in the process of rebranding and transforming a number of Euro Garages into ASDA on the Move stores (AOTM) and in their trials were using low cost fuel hauliers, rather than abiding by existing agreements. This threatened the jobs of the tanker drivers.

Following a strong vote for strike action, the employer engaged in fresh talks and a ground breaking deal, which included ASDA was agreed. As part of the deal, ASDA changed its contract two years early with FTL so that they will be contracted to continue to deliver fuel until July 2031, securing Unite members’ jobs and future.

Ground breaking agreement

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a ground breaking agreement which provides both job security and a substantial pay rise to Unite’s members.

“Unite is now fully focussed on enhancing the jobs, pay and conditions of its members, and this deal demonstrates that this strategy is paying off for workers.”

It was also agreed that the existing AOTM trial site work will be transferred to FTL and that if the project is rolled out the fuel service will be serviced by the company. On top of this, the workers on the ASDA North and South contracts operated by FTL will receive a 10 per cent pay increase on top of the 3.5 per cent increase already agreed – totalling a 13.5 per cent pay increase.

Members' jobs defended

Unite national officer Tony Devlin said: “This was a significant threat to our members from Asda and Euro Garages. We had to plan our strategy in detail to defend our members' job security and pay against attacks from all large fuel retailers. So, any other fuel retailer thinking of following a similar strategy as Asda and Euro Garages should think again as Unite will use every resource we have to fight back and defend our members.”

 ENDS

  For media enquiries ONLY please contact Unite senior communications officer Barckley Sumner on 07802 329235 or 0203 371 2067.

Email: [email protected]

 

Unite is the UK and Ireland’s leading union fighting to protect and advance jobs, pay and conditions for members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.