Boots Irish staff vote to strike

About 900 employees at Boots Ireland have voted in favour of industrial action over proposed pay cuts and changes to workers' terms and conditions.

Staff at the retail chain, which owns over 50 stores throughout the country and employs about 1,700 staff, voted by a margin of 64 per cent in favour of strike action from Monday onwards.

Trade union Mandate said turnout for the ballot was “extremely high” with as many as 89 per cent of eligible employees voting.

Mandate has accused Boots of exploiting Irish workers by seeking a 15.5 per cent wage reduction at the top scale of pay from €14.20 to €12 per hour.

In addition, the union claims the firm is looking for a 25 per cent reduction in bank holiday pay and Sunday premiums and for employees to work more weekend shifts.

Mandate assistant general secretary Gerry Light said that workers had balloted for industrial action as a last resort.

“The decision by workers in Boots to vote for industrial action gives a clear and decisive signal to the company that the workers are not prepared to be used as a sacrifice for the greedy profiteering of a highly profitable company,” he said.

Boots Ireland expressed disappointment with the decision to strike, a move which it described as "misguided."

The firm said it adjusting the overall grading system which would limit future increases for more highly paid staff but that contrary to Mandate's claim it had guaranteed there will be no reduction in employees' current contract take-home pay or in hours.

A spokesman for the company told The Irish Times that its pay scale revision comes after it awarded a pay increase of 6 per cent under the National Wage Agreement and granted over 80 per cent of its employees additional money through its bonus schemes

Boots said its appeal for added flexibility in regard to weekend shifts was in order to better serve customers.

"The simple facts are that retail sales in Ireland are in decline, whilst costs continue to rise. We have chosen to take action to address this now, rather than wait until the problem becomes bigger," it said.

“We have tried over several months to get agreement with Mandate over how we tackle this issue, without success. We have made many concessions in an attempt to work with the union in partnership, but all of this has been rejected by Mandate," it added.

The company said stores will remain open during the dispute and pharmacies will continue to dispense medicines.