Tesco refuses to pay some workers at south Dublin store

Tesco Ireland has acknowledged that some workers at its Merrion Centre store in south Co Dublin were yesterday refused their usual payment of weekly wages without warning.

While a spokeswoman for Tesco agreed that the wages had not been paid as usual, she described the situation as "an industrial relations one".

She also insisted that the situation was a once-off event completely unconnected to other Tesco stores. It was one "in which there is no question of anybody not being paid any money that they are owed", she maintained.

The spokeswoman added that the situation had developed suddenly yesterday and she would not care to comment further until Tesco human resources personnel had been fully briefed on the problem.

The Irish Times understands that an unofficial industrial relations issue developed in the store when workers who are rostered to work this Saturday and who are normally paid in the store on Thursdays were asked to wait for their money until Saturday.

The Tesco store traditionally pays casual and full-time staff who receive a weekly wage on a Thursday, for days worked from the previous Sunday to the following Saturday. In these instances the workers generally have the Friday off, collecting their wages on Thursday and completing their working week on Saturday.

However, it is understood that in recent weeks Tesco in the Merrion Centre had a difficulty with staff shortages on Saturdays. In the letters page of The Irish Times last Wednesday, Ms Diana O'Donnell of Dublin 4, complained of staff shortages at her local store at peak hours, among other difficulties.

One worker who spoke to The Irish Times yesterday said the wages had been expected and that they had no money to survive on until Saturday.

When contacted, a spokesman for Mandate, the union representing the store workers, said he was unaware of the dispute but would be checking details with the company last night.