IWU report on Musgrave

by NB Sat May 05, 2007 19:51

Group Human Resources Director to Musgraves is one Noel Keeley. Employee rights abuses seem to follow him. He was head of HR at University College Cork until the Gerry Wrixon "corruption" engulfed him - not least the appointment of family members without following appointment procedures.

by An Indy Editor Sat May 05, 2007 23:47

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this report is to reveal the levels of discrimination against and exploitation of agency workers employed in MUSGRAVE Supervalu Centra Fonthill in Dublin and to try and highlight the negative affects on workers of deregulation of the european job market.

We would also hope that this report will inspire workers to begin taking direct actions to change and improve conditions for agency workers and indeed for all workers in MUSGRAVE and in other companies throughout Ireland and Europe.

1. ORGANISATION OF WORK IN MUSGRAVE

The MUSGRAVE Supervalu Centra Warehouse distributes products to the different outlets of the Supervalu and Centra chains. Each day, outlets place orders with the warehouse, comprising deliveries from the four different sectors of the warehouse, meat, dairy, crates and fruit & veg. When a pallet of goods arrives in the warehouse from a producer, it is given a symbol. When orders are being picked, this same symbol is on a set of stickers with the number of outlets on them, indicating where the products should go. Stickers are distributed to warehouse operatives from “the hut”, situated in the middle of the warehouse. All orders go there, having been prepared by the “pick planner”.

Every warehouse operative has his own number and is assigned to one of the warehouse’s sections. The “pick distributor”, who works in the hut, scans the barcode for each order and allocates it to certain warehouse operatives. According to warehouse rules, orders should be allocated according as warehouse operatives become available and choosing easier orders is banned without reasonable explanation.

Warehouse operatives working in MUSGRAVE are divided into two groups. There are those who are employed directly by Musgrave and are called DTMs (Distribution Team Members). Then there are agency workers, recruited from MULTIFLEX, DRC and MTR agencies. DTMs work 4 days a week for 10 hours a day on two different shifts, from 6am to 4pm or from 10am to 8pm. On Sundays they work for 12 hours. They are divided into four teams, whereby everyone works in different sections every day. DTMs work according to a year-long roster. Agency workers usually start work at 7.30am, 10.30am or 12.30pm. They work for 12 hours a day and the number of working days per week varies from 1 to 6. Usually, agency operatives are informed about their shifts on the day before. Agency representatives will contact them and ask them to do a certain shift, after having received information from MUSGRAVE about the size of workforce required for a particular day. Sometimes, agency operatives are only informed that they are required an hour before their shift starts. Only a few agency operatives are assigned to the same teams as DTM’s and work according to their plan.

There is a high turnover of agency workers, although several of them have been working for MUSGRAVE’s for two, three or even four years.

2. WRONG PRACTICES DIVISION OF ORDERS

Line managers divide order for each sector into good (easy to pick) and bad (usually heavy goods, those that require a lot of time and strength to pick). In the hut, stickers are divided into two piles, with the good ones going to the DTMs and the bad ones to the agency operatives. For example, DTMs will be picking Danone’s, products in the dairy sector, while agency operatives will be picking large or heavy products in the meat sector. Sometimes, DTMs are transferred to the dairy sector when Danone’s products come in and agency operatives are moved from the dairy sector to other, more difficult sectors in order to make room for the DTM’s. Similar practices occur when there are chickens to be picked in the meat sector or salad, tomatoes and mushrooms in the fruit and veg sector, all of which are easy orders. Sometimes, managers write the names of DTMs on easy orders so that pick distributors can allocate them accordingly. This favouritism impacts negatively on the agency workers as they are usually paid according to their productivity. If they are continuously given bad orders, their salary suffers. Also, there are psychological issues as this favouritism causes humiliation among agency operatives and a feeling of superiority among DTM’s. The DTM’s privileged situation causes conflict and dislike between them and the agency operatives.

GLOVES

New gloves for pickers are stored in the hut. They are given to DTM workers whenever they ask for them, but not agency workers. Managers claim that gloves should be provided to agency operatives by their agency. In practice, it is impossible for an agency operative to travel to the agency office in a distant part of Dublin to ask for gloves. This lack of agreement between the agencies and MUSGRAVE is indicative of their contempt for safety regulations and is also a cause of further humiliation amongst agency operatives. Very often, agency workers will work without gloves or will purchase their own. Bear in mind that the temperature in the MUSGRAVE warehouse varies from 2 to 5 degrees centigrade.

UNEQUAL DAILY NORM AND BREAKS

DTM’s norm is 90 products per hour, while agency operative’s norm is 120 products per hour. The disproportionate workload being placed on agency operatives is even more visible when you consider that DTMs work 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, while agency operatives work for 12 hours a day, sometimes for 6 days a week. Also, DTM’s have a break every hour and, in practice, up to 2 hours of their 10 hour shift comprises breaks. Agency operatives are allowed one 1 hour break during their 12 hour shift. Any attempt to prolong this break is severely punished by managers and there have been cases where agency operatives have been sent home because they spent too much time in the canteen.

BOGIES

When there are large numbers of staff available there are never enough bogies available to distribute the articles. In this situation the DTM s gets first choice to all available equipment. If a DTM starts work and there is free bogie available for him he is allowed to take a bogie from an agency worker who may have started work earlier and was already using the bogie. If the agency worker protests or disputes this treatment the manager invariable comes down on the side of the DTM. Indeed it is often the managers who take the bogies from the agency workers at the behest of the DTMs. In many cases of this sort the manager either threatens to send the agency worker home or he orders the agency worker to work on what is known as the “combination or combie basket” which entail moving articles twice, from the pallet to the combie and from the combie to the right shop.

FAVOURITISM

There is widespread instances acceptance of favouritism. When the Distributor is not in the “hut” his duties are carried out by one of the DTMs who invariable gives out the best and easiest orders to his friends and he gives the worst ones to the agency workers. Management are aware of this unjust practice but turn a blind eye to it.

LACK OF LOCKERS

All DTM s have proper and secure lockers in which to leave their personal possessions in a secure area. The agency workers have no lockers and are expected to use open shelves where they have to leave their personal belongings packed on top of each or in backpacks, exposed to theft or damage. (See Pictures 1 & 2) Even the longest serving agency workers (3-4 years) have not been given lockers.

FORCED OVERTIME

Managers force agency workers to work two or more extra hours when it is considered busy. If an agency worker refuses to do extra hours the manager threatens him/her with zero hours for the following week or the loss of his “place on the team” and the questionable privilege of doing 10hrs instead of 12 or the manager complains the worker to his/her agency requesting his dismissal, this is usually done in front of the worker. With the use of this type of blackmail and intimidation Musgraves force agency workers to work 14 hours a day.

WATCHING THE WORKING TIME

Some managers are obsessed with ensuring that agency workers do not get one minute extra break time. With watch in hand they time the breaks of agency workers to the minute while DTM s take as long as they like, in some cases twice the normal break time, without comment or censure. Management apply the rules on time keeping to agency workers only.

SOCIAL PACKAGE

Agency workers even those who have worked for years in Musgraves and despite their considerable contribution to company profits do not benefit from Christmas bonuses. They have no right to paternity/mothernity leave, they cannot use the Social Club.

ACCESS TO TRAINING AND PROMOTION Access to training and promotion for agency workers is non existent.

3. DENIAL OF WORKERS RIGHTS

Both Musgrave and their associated agencies misinform agency workers as to their rights and entitlements and to who precisely is their employer. When a worker has a problem and he/she approaches their Musgrave line manager they are referred to the agency as being their employer. When the worker approaches the agency they are told that nothing can be done for them because Musgrave are in control of the agency and solutions to problem are all up to Musgrave.

For instance on the issue of overtime payment for working extra hours they are told that Musgrave only pay a flat rate regardless if the worker works 30 hours or 60 hours or if they work on Saturday or Sunday or Public and Bank holidays. Both Musgrave and the agencies act together in denying agency workers their rights and legal entitlements. Agency workers are told that they cannot join a union, they are not provided with proper contracts, their payslips issue irregularly and they are not paid for holidays and are continually being forced to work overtime.

Even though they constantly work in artic conditions, 2 - 5 degrees, they are not provided with adequate protective clothing including safety footwear and gloves.

4. CONCLUSION

Agency workers whose low labour cost contributes to the massive profits of the Musgrave Corporation, Supervalu and Centra, are subject to a most vile regime of discrimination and cruelty. Subjected to very bad wages and dreadful conditions together with the tyranny of unjust and unfair discipline their situation is exacerbated by the presence of a weak and employer orientated SIPTU trade union whose will or ability to adequately represent and protect them is non existent.

By putting SIPTU members in a privileged position (which is only a degree better than agency workers) Musgrave and the agencies have divided the work force by generating a sense of superiority towards and distain for their fellow workers from the agencies amongst DTMs. Line managers are careful to develop and widen these divisions by favouring DTMs with better item orders and better working conditions to the detriment of the health, safety and well being of agency workers.

A recent example of this was when a DTM was given an item order that needed more work he screamed “Give this to any of the fucking agencies!”. This raised high levels of merriment and laughter amongst the line managers who immediately got him a better order.

Another DTM got a “bad” order and he complained saying “Do you see DRC or MTR written on my back”? (names of agencies). He too raised the usual merriment amongst line managers and he too got a better order. Discrimination in the widest meaning of the term means different treatment of various entities that are subject to the same situation. In Musgrave both DTMs and agency workers carry out the same task: picking items. For one group there is privilege for the other these privileges are non-existent. Agency workers are paid less, are subject to cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment and exploitation and are denied their basic rights.