theActivist
Issue 106
members in
Solidarity with Long Eaton
DHL strikers
Workers at the DHL
depot in Long Eaton,
Derbyshire, have taken
two lots of 24 hour strike
action in a dispute over
redundancy payments as
the site is being shut
down. Members of
Nottingham Socialist
Party (CWI section in
England and Wales) have
visited the picket line,
and have supplied the
Activist with this
interview with one of the
striking workers.
“We are a warehouse that
supplies M&S with their
goods. When the site
opened 34 years ago it
was run by Tibbett &
Britten (with their own
greatly enhanced
Redundancy Policy but
not written in the contract,
presumably because no-
one thought it would ever
close down).
“In 2004 we TUPE’d over
to Exel Logistics who told
us our redundancy rights
from T&B would remain
unchanged. In 2008 Exel
were acquired by DHL.
“In February 2020 we
were told we would close,
eventually given a closing
date of end of July 2021.
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During lockdown from
March 2020 DHL refused
to pay the extra 20% of
furlough and so for nearly
a year effectively paid no
wages at our site at all –
meaning that on top of
losing our jobs we were
also hammered with a
20% pay cut, while DHL
made millions in our
absence. We suspect they
haven’t even paid back
any of the other 80% they
owe the government.
“In consultation they then
refused to acknowledge
the original T&B
r e d u n d a n c y
enhancements, which
they said were
superseded by a pay deal
from 2010 (they were not,
there were only
enhancements for those
on the DHL contracts in
this deal) and this was
duly accepted by our
members.
“At no time have
employees been told that
they have lesser
redundancy rights. Fast
forward to the closing
contracts now on site. The
loyal members are the
only ones being offered
half of their redundancy
when management and
ENGLAND & WALES
everyone else (agency,
annualised hours) have
had their correct full
settlements.
It’s still in dispute and has
resulted in two 24 hour
strikes – the first in the
site’s history. M&S and
DHL won’t even get back
round the table with us to
negotiate a fair
settlement.
“As a result, the site
closes in just four weeks
time and our loyal
members at present face
a lengthy fight to get what
they believe is rightfully
theirs, whilst the
management on those
T&B contracts had
protected rights and are
trousering huge payoffs.
“Our members are getting
offered half of theirs. It’s
scandalous and
heartbreaking but we
fight on.”
Messages of support can
be sent via the ‘Usdaw
Union’ page on facebook.
The next strike action
takes place on Thursday ● England & Wales
1st July from 5.15am socialistparty.org.uk
● Scotland
June 2021
IRELAND
Join the union and help us
organise for
•No lifting of any Covid safety
measures without agreement
from elected local health & safety
committees/reps
•Full pay for all workers self-
isolating or furloughed from day
one - no to forcing staff to use
holidays
• An immediate £12/hour
minimum wage as a step to £15
+ hazard pay
•Increase staffing levels in store
to carry out any necessary
cleaning & hygiene duties, bring
back in house outsourced
cleaners. Full time contracts to all
those who want them
•Scrap the 2 year qualifying
period - Full employment rights
from day one
• Scrap performance targets
•Time and a half for all overtime
worked over contracted hours
•Reinstate lost paid breaks and
premium payments, double pay
on Sundays and time and a half
on Saturdays. No extension of
Sunday trading
•Trade union control over
changing staff duties, hiring and
firing, and opening time changes
•35 hour working week without
loss of pay
•Open the books to trade union
inspection if companies say they
can’t afford these measures
• Bailout workers, not the bosses
and the speculators. Campaign
for nationalisation to save jobs.
•Democratically elected
committees of workers and
consumers to control prices and
any rationing policies at all levels.
•For socialist planning to put the
needs of workers first, not
shareholders profits.
Join Usdaw - usdaw.org.uk/join
Jointhe fightback
JOINTHE
SOCIALISTS
socialistpartyscotland.org.uk
● Ireland militant-left.org
theActivist the bulletin of CWI members in

Commerical Rent Moratorium extended -

but next stage of retail crisis looms
With just a few weeks to go being lost in retail this year.
before the ending of the And whilst last year, more
commercial rent jobs were lost to so-called
moratorium, with a ‘rationalisations’ (around
potential for a rapidly 96k) to companies entering
development of crisis on administration (around
the high street as a result, 74k), of the 33,000 lost
the government has jobs accounted for by the
stepped in to extend the end of April/May, there are
moratorium on commercial twice as many due to
rents, which prevents administration as re-
landlords taking ‘aggressive organisation.
actions’ such as seeking to
evict tenants or seize their This is due to a combination
stock, until March 25th of both the expansion of
2022. online retail, accelerated by
the impact of the Covid-19
Last year saw the largest pandemic, but also the
numbers of retail job losses impact of Covid restrictions
in Britain for 25 years with on companies trading. With
176,700 going in the sector, enforced closures, but also
more than double the additional spending and
74,000 jobs lost at the high capacity restrictions due to
point of store closures after social distancing and other
the 2007/08 economic Covid-19 mitigating
crisis. This follows 117,400 measures.
jobs lost in 2018 and
143,100 in 2019. Largely due to the
pandemic, commercial rent
But projections for this year collections for the first
were set to be even worse, quarter of the year at the
according to the Centre for end of April were down 8%
Retail Research who on the year before, are
projected 200,000 jobs lower than in the last two
quarters of 2020. It has of a number of demands
been estimated by Remit the largest retail workers
Consulting that UK union, Usdaw, has put
commercial landlords took forward in relation to the
£5.3bn less in rent last potential cliff edge faced by
year. According to a British companies at the end of
Retail Consortium survey, June. Other demands
already 30% of retailers Usdaw is raising include
have county court extending the business
judgements against them rates rebate at 100% at the
for unpaid rent, and 80% end of the year (the 100%
have been given less than a rebate will be reduced to
year to pay their arrears. 66% at the end of June, and
will end altogether on 31st
That the ending of all Covid March 2022), alongside
restrictions has been reform of the business
pushed back four weeks rates, which Usdaw
from June 21st until at least proposes should be
July 19th added to this, with reduced by 20%, funded by
companies, especially in online sales levy of 1%.
hospitality still facing much
reduced capacity, and Such demands, in effect,
therefore reduced income. amount to protectionism for
bricks and mortar retail,
It was these factors which attempting to reduce the
have led the government to overheads of having many
intervene to further prop up physical locations,
the retail, hospitality and compared to online
leisure sectors, to stave off retailers who only require
a potential ‘cliff edge’ of warehouses and delivery
closures and liquidations methods, one of the factors
Extending the moratorium currently giving them a
on commercial rents is one Continued on next page >

Lidl strike - Italian

trade unionist killed
The shocking murder of a
trade union activist on a
picket line outside a Lidl
warehouse, has forced
even Italian Prime Minister
Mario Draghi to condemn
this killing. Adil Belakhdim,
an organiser with Si
COBAS, an Italian rank and
file union which organises
largely amongst migrant
logistics workers, was
struck by a lorry attempting
to the break the picket line
in Biandrate in Northern
Italy. Two other pickets
were hit, and Belakhdim
was dragged along the
road by the lorry for ten
minutes or so.
As Lidl has grown rapidly,
so have workers attempts
to organise within the
company. Lidl
management has been
fiercly resistant to trade
union recognition, in
Poland in 2006, this went
as far as bringing in
security guards to attempt
to stop workers leaving a
store to attend a union
meeting! Nevertheless,
recognition has been won
in countries such as
Spain, Belgium and
Sweden. A 2018 strike in
Belgium, starting with
walkouts from stores and
included blockading all 5
distribution centres in the
country, forced Lidl to
expand staffing levels.
In the UK, activities to
organise amongst Lidl
workers have
ongoing since 2014.
been
Usdaw has held campaign
days targeting workers in
distribution centres and
stores, and in 2017, the
GMB won statutory
recognition at the Lidl
distribution centre in
Bridgend, after Lidl
exhausted the appeals
process.

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theActivist
< From previous page
competitive advantage
alongside the generally less
unionized workforces
allowing for greater
exploitation of workers.
But such protectionism will
not resolve the underlying
issue of relatively high rents
compared to turnovers
many companies,
especially those who have
lost out under Covid are
experiencing. Many
companies who engaged in
sale-and-leaseback of their
store properties in order to
raise cash in the past, also
agreed upwards-only rent
reviews on such properties.
The now-defunct BHS was a
case in point who after the
take over by Philip Green,
agreed a sale-and-
leaseback to Carmen
Properties (ultimately
owned by his wife) for
£106m. Carmen Properties
collected £153m in rent
over a 14 year period, and
sold the properties back to
BHS as part of the £1
buyout by Retail
Acquisitions Limited in
2015, for £70m, meaning a
£36m profit on the sale for
the Green family, plus the
rental income over that
period.
But BHS are far from the
only company. Even giants
like Tesco raised £7bn from
selling freeholds on 179 of
its stores. A Tesco Extra in
Sunderland sold on this
basis in 2013, faced
annual rent reviews of
between 0% and 5%, with
the earliest possibility of
surrendering the lease
being in 2023.
But the crisis in the retail
sector over last few years,
has meant commercial
landlords have faced
dilemmas over allowing
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the bulletin of CWI members in
revaluations of rents, or
face tenants going out of
business, with increasing
difficulty of replacing them,
with over 10% of UK
shopping centres at less
than 60% occupancy, for
example. Given many of
these commercial landlords
property empire
acquisitions are often
funded through debt (the
Economist 5/6/21 gave a
figure of 20% of all lending
in the US is invested in
commercial property), then
loan or mortgage terms Usdaw should instead be We call for
may limit their room for clear that the model we Open the books of the retail
manoeuvre. should be fighting for is one
based first and foremost on companies to enable
A number of companies protecting the interests of elected representatives of
have sought to force the retail workers and the wider retail workers and wider
issue Company Voluntary working class, not the trade union movement to
Arrangements (CVAs), profits of either the big decide a fair rent.
which under the threat of retailers or big landlords. Nationalise the big
companies going bust, have Retail and distribution commercial landlords and
been used to force through workers shouldn’t pay with banks, with compensation
rescue plans based on rent our jobs, pay and terms and only on the basis of proven
reductions, or switching to conditions for the mistakes need
turnover-based rents – as of the bosses.
well as terminating leases Nationalise the big retail
on stores, usually along This means bringing the big companies under
with the employment of the retailers and landlords into democratic workers control
workers in them. public ownership under and management.
democratic workers control
Usdaw’s statements and management so their Bring retail companies in
recognise this issue wealth can benefit all, danger of collapse into
arguing, in a June 9 press rather than a handful of public ownership, with
release, that “In the long- shareholders. Rents could democratic decision making
term there has to be a wider be determined by elected by representatives of retail
solution with a new model representatives of retail and wider trade union
for commercial rents and workers and the wider trade movement about its future
leases that works for union movement, able to viability and supervise any
retailers, landlords and the inspect the books of the conversion to alternative
wider sector.“ But there is retail companies. Similarly, use, whilst ensuring secure
no suggestion as to what where retailers are in jobs and no loss of pay,
this “new model” would be, danger of collapse, they terms and conditions for
whilst the suggestion that should be brought into workers affected.
there is some solution that public ownership, with such
wouldn’t disadvantage one representative bodies of
or more of retailers, workers discussing the long
landlords and retail workers term sustainability of the
is a fantastical attempt to stores. Where conversion to Join the Usdaw
write Usdaw leaderships an alternative function is Broad Left today:
vision of ‘partnership’ onto deemed necessary, this Apply to join online at:
the competitive should be on the basis of https://
relationship between all guaranteeing jobs for all usdawbroadleft.typeform.co
three groups under workers, with no loss of pay,
m/to/j2machXd
capitalism. terms and conditions.