MUSGRAVE SUPERVALU CENTRA CLAIMS NOT TO KNOW THE EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS OF AGENCY WORKERS AT its FONTHILL ROAD DEPOT, AS MUSGRAVE-EMPLOYED WORKERS SPEAK OUT FOR THEIR IMMIGRANT COLLEAUGES
RETAIL giant Musgrave SuperValu Centra (MSVC) has claimed it does not know the payment rates of around 100 agency workers at its Fonthill Road depot in Clondalkin, Dublin.
The claim comes amid concerns about the employment conditions of agency workers at the depot, who work directly for one of three employment agencies: DRC (Direct Rec-ruitment Consultants), MTR Consulting, and Multiflex Human Resource Solutions.
The Fonthill Road depot is a chilled distribution where food products are sorted for distribution to SuperValu and Centra stores.
A number of agency workers – predominantly immigrants – and their Musgrave-employed colleagues have told Metro Eireann that:
- Many agency workers are regularly working more than 50 hours per week, with some working up to 70 hours per week or more, contrary to the maximum 48-hour week set out in the Organisation Of Working Time Act 1997
- Pay slips of workers from the three agencies indicate that their pay stays at a flat rate even when they are working overtime (a right to overtime is not yet enshrined in Irish legislation)
- Agency workers are set hourly product-picking targets in excess of the level expected of Musgrave-employed workers, and come under pressure from depot management and their agencies to meet targets deemed excessive by their Irish colleagues
- Agency workers – while receiving an hourly rate above the minimum wage – get roughly half the pay rate of their Musgrave-employed colleagues, whose pay would work out at about 20 euro an hour
- Some agency workers from the three agencies do not recall receiving contracts of employment.
Matters came to a head when agency and Musgrave-employed workers embarked on an unofficial stoppage a fortnight ago, following a number of occurrences involving management and agency workers.
MSVC managing director Donal Horgan blamed the stoppage on the Independent Workers Union, which he said had acted “on behalf of a small number of agency staff supplied by Multiflex, DRC and MTR employment agencies. The conditions of these staff are negotiated directly with their employment agencies.”
The stoppage, added Horgan, “was instigated outside normal industrial relations procedures and contrary to the spirit and practice of established national dispute resolution procedures”.
A number of workers have told Metro Eireann the stoppage was spontaneous. One said that the Irish Musgrave-employed workers were sick of the way their agency colleagues are being treated and that some are worried that the cost-cutting use of agency staff will erode the hard-won benefits of the permanent workers. “Work has increased by one third and there’s been no increase in full-time staff, they are just supplementing it with agency staff all the time,” said one.
Another referred to the potential social chaos of dividing the workforce: “This whole thing is wrong and has to stop... We’re talking [as a country] about integration. I mean if this [sort of situation] continues we’re going to have thousands and thousands of Eastern Europeans volatile, disaffected and an underclass.
“You can see what happened in France, when you create an underclass you have a problem for the future… These guys are going home to their cities or towns and villages and are saying we can make money in Ireland but we are treated like absolute dogs. This is going to damage Ireland abroad, it’s a national disgrace is what it is, it has to get out.”
A spokesperson for MSVC claimed not to know how much the agency workers are being paid. “We negotiate a rate with them [the agencies] and then they pay their staff, so we wouldn’t know what their rates are, but we can find out.”
The spokesperson u-turned on supplying figures on the total amount of agency workers working at MSVC depots, and did not answer queries on whether there are less permanent contracts available due to the fact that staffing is supplemented by agencies.
When asked about the claim that division had been created in workforce, the spokesperson said: “The main thing to keep in mind is that we have our own employees in there, and when you are employed directly by a company you have certain rights, social clubs or whatever that you are entitled to be a member of, but because you are an agency work they come and go… their terms and conditions of employment are directly with the three agency companies.”
Questions on the hours worked by agency workers and the allegation of higher hourly picking targets for the agency workers were also not addressed. Another unanswer-ed question was the claim by agency workers that they will be “de-listed” if they don’t agree to work extra hours.
A statement from Donal Horgan read: “Musgrave SuperValu Centra is committed to working with these three employment agencies and has confirmed this commitment to the agencies involved to ensure that any issues concerning these staff are resolved. However, the company will only address these concerns by observing the standard procedures in place in relation to the resolution of disputes.
“Musgrave SuperValu Centra employs 1,750 people across its five depots and enjoys an excellent working relationship with Siptu, Ireland’s largest trade union, which is the only official trade union representing staff across all of these centres.”
Nobody from DRC, MTR Consulting or Multiflex Hu-man Resource Solutions res-ponded to a request to talk about the workers’ concerns.
Last year, The Musgrave Group – of which Musgrave SuperValu Centra is a retail division – revealed that it made a pre-tax profit of 72.5m euro in 2005, an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
The claim comes amid concerns about the employment conditions of agency workers at the depot, who work directly for one of three employment agencies: DRC (Direct Rec-ruitment Consultants), MTR Consulting, and Multiflex Human Resource Solutions.
The Fonthill Road depot is a chilled distribution where food products are sorted for distribution to SuperValu and Centra stores.
A number of agency workers – predominantly immigrants – and their Musgrave-employed colleagues have told Metro Eireann that:
- Many agency workers are regularly working more than 50 hours per week, with some working up to 70 hours per week or more, contrary to the maximum 48-hour week set out in the Organisation Of Working Time Act 1997
- Pay slips of workers from the three agencies indicate that their pay stays at a flat rate even when they are working overtime (a right to overtime is not yet enshrined in Irish legislation)
- Agency workers are set hourly product-picking targets in excess of the level expected of Musgrave-employed workers, and come under pressure from depot management and their agencies to meet targets deemed excessive by their Irish colleagues
- Agency workers – while receiving an hourly rate above the minimum wage – get roughly half the pay rate of their Musgrave-employed colleagues, whose pay would work out at about 20 euro an hour
- Some agency workers from the three agencies do not recall receiving contracts of employment.
Matters came to a head when agency and Musgrave-employed workers embarked on an unofficial stoppage a fortnight ago, following a number of occurrences involving management and agency workers.
MSVC managing director Donal Horgan blamed the stoppage on the Independent Workers Union, which he said had acted “on behalf of a small number of agency staff supplied by Multiflex, DRC and MTR employment agencies. The conditions of these staff are negotiated directly with their employment agencies.”
The stoppage, added Horgan, “was instigated outside normal industrial relations procedures and contrary to the spirit and practice of established national dispute resolution procedures”.
A number of workers have told Metro Eireann the stoppage was spontaneous. One said that the Irish Musgrave-employed workers were sick of the way their agency colleagues are being treated and that some are worried that the cost-cutting use of agency staff will erode the hard-won benefits of the permanent workers. “Work has increased by one third and there’s been no increase in full-time staff, they are just supplementing it with agency staff all the time,” said one.
Another referred to the potential social chaos of dividing the workforce: “This whole thing is wrong and has to stop... We’re talking [as a country] about integration. I mean if this [sort of situation] continues we’re going to have thousands and thousands of Eastern Europeans volatile, disaffected and an underclass.
“You can see what happened in France, when you create an underclass you have a problem for the future… These guys are going home to their cities or towns and villages and are saying we can make money in Ireland but we are treated like absolute dogs. This is going to damage Ireland abroad, it’s a national disgrace is what it is, it has to get out.”
A spokesperson for MSVC claimed not to know how much the agency workers are being paid. “We negotiate a rate with them [the agencies] and then they pay their staff, so we wouldn’t know what their rates are, but we can find out.”
The spokesperson u-turned on supplying figures on the total amount of agency workers working at MSVC depots, and did not answer queries on whether there are less permanent contracts available due to the fact that staffing is supplemented by agencies.
When asked about the claim that division had been created in workforce, the spokesperson said: “The main thing to keep in mind is that we have our own employees in there, and when you are employed directly by a company you have certain rights, social clubs or whatever that you are entitled to be a member of, but because you are an agency work they come and go… their terms and conditions of employment are directly with the three agency companies.”
Questions on the hours worked by agency workers and the allegation of higher hourly picking targets for the agency workers were also not addressed. Another unanswer-ed question was the claim by agency workers that they will be “de-listed” if they don’t agree to work extra hours.
A statement from Donal Horgan read: “Musgrave SuperValu Centra is committed to working with these three employment agencies and has confirmed this commitment to the agencies involved to ensure that any issues concerning these staff are resolved. However, the company will only address these concerns by observing the standard procedures in place in relation to the resolution of disputes.
“Musgrave SuperValu Centra employs 1,750 people across its five depots and enjoys an excellent working relationship with Siptu, Ireland’s largest trade union, which is the only official trade union representing staff across all of these centres.”
Nobody from DRC, MTR Consulting or Multiflex Hu-man Resource Solutions res-ponded to a request to talk about the workers’ concerns.
Last year, The Musgrave Group – of which Musgrave SuperValu Centra is a retail division – revealed that it made a pre-tax profit of 72.5m euro in 2005, an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
