The Guardian reported on 26th January that John Lewis plans thousands of job cuts over the next five years. Job cuts can be expensive if terms above the statutory (currently capped at around £19K for long service) are paid. John Lewis says that as from February 1st it will cuts its redundancy terms from two weeks for each year of service to one week.
That is a very significant difference. The British media long since got rid of labour correspondents so its impossible to fully grasp the impact of what is proposed, beyond the fact that its not good news for employees. The context there being that whatever the issues with John Lewis are, they have been caused by senior management not those on the shop floor.
John Lewis is not a unionised company but instead operates a partnership model praised in the past by Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and Lord Call Me Dave. Every employee is a partner but they it seems are told rather than consulted on changes. They can object and try and force a vote.
The changes proposed are contractual which should mean that they are only implemented after a notice period. Further as redundancy is involved there are employment law provisions about such matters are carried out which involve consultation on agreed timescales and the right to raise a counter proposal.
How any of that works in John Lewis, if it does, is unclear which is why for all the issues that there can be joining a trade union and being active in one remains a key protection for all working people
Leave a Reply