Workers from Tesco-owned Bestfood are set to take part in a strike ballot after they rejected the company’s latest 6% pay offer, with the GMB Union citing the profits of Booker and Tesco as a reason for why the terms weren’t good enough, and would also equate to a real terms pay cut this year and next.
A total of 93% of GMB members rejected the offer, with 85% indicating they wanted to be balloted formally for industrial action. This equates to almost 600 GMB members working for Bestfood set to take part in the ballot.
Read more: Booker opens Devon delivered dark site hub
Tesco acquired the Best Food Logistics Group from Bidcorp in 2019 and the company distributes food to customers including Pret a Manger, KFC and Burger Kinh.
Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “These workers bust a gut to deliver fresh, just in time food to some of the biggest names in the business. Bestfood’s parent companies Booker and Tesco are making incredibly healthy profits and paying large dividends, while leaving these workers crushed by cost of living.
“Now some of their biggest clients may well be left short this Christmas because they won’t meet GMB’s reasonable request for a pay deal that protects our members through this year and into next with a genuine cost of living increase.”
