UK 
United States
As soon as it hits Monday, most employees are counting the days until its Friday again so they can down tools, spend time with their family and catch-up with friends over a coffee in the park. Not only is a break away from work good for productivity, it gives employees time to recharge the batteries so that they walk into the office on Monday morning feeling refreshed.
However, 1,500 Wilko employees will stage a walk-out in protest over a “brutal” new system which has proposed seven-day rota schedules – The Mirror reported.
The new schedule purposes that two warehouses – one in Wales and one in Nottinghamshire – will run weekend operations to help meet increasing consumer demands.
Staff at the distribution centres have voted in favour of striking over Wilko’s ‘standardised’ seven-day working schedules at the two centres. GMB Union, who is representing Wilko staff, claim that this walk-out will disrupt deliveries across the UK.
Nicola Savage, GMB Organiser, said: "More than 84% of votes were cast for strike action. It's clear how angry workers are about this brutal new rota system.
“Wilko prides itself on being a family run company – but they’re imposing contracts that will force staff to work on the weekends, splitting up family time, without the agreement of their employees.
“It’s clear now that those values don’t extend outside the Wilkinson family.
“We’ve tried to negotiate with management again and again – but they don’t want to know. Our members feel backed into a corner, and strike action is the only option left open to them.”
A Wilko Spokesman said that they ‘share the same frustrations as their team members’. He added: “… We remain committed to working with [employees] and their representatives to further reduce the number of weekends they need to work, so that they can spend as much time as possible with their families.
“We hear the feedback from the ballot and are keen to resolve any differences as quickly as possible as we don’t believe strike action is in anyone’s best interest at this challenging time for both retail in general and the High Street.
“The reality is that our customers expect to shop with us seven days a week and we must respond to meet our customers’ needs. The requirement for more regular weekend working in logistics continues and we are only asking team members to work within their existing contracts.
“There are robust plans in place to ensure customers can continue to shop with us if any action occurs.”
