Workers at upmarket London department store Harrods are contemplating strike action over their employer’s ‘discriminatory’ holiday policy.
Black and Asian workers say that a rule limiting holiday to two weeks will prevent them from taking time off to visit families abroad.
Harrods’ facilities workers received notification of holiday guidelines in June, which left those who had already arranged and paid for their holidays attempting to alter or cancel their plans.
Bank holidays and annual leave
Letter giving an employee a one-off holiday increase because of the way Easter bank holidays fall
Harrods says that the policy was not new but was now being enforced, meaning that holidays longer than two weeks are being turned down.
The workers say they must save for trips for several years before they can afford to travel to Asia, Africa or South America to see their families.
Petros Elia, general secretary of United Voices of the World (UVW) union representing the cleaners, told The Independent that the policy was a “clear case of discrimination against migrant workers, who have always been able to take extended holidays to visit their families”.
The union is not recognised by the retailer and there are no negotiations between the two parties.
Elia added: “This new policy could lead to a patently absurd and unconscionable situation where none of the facilities’ workers will ever be able to spend time with their families who live overseas.
“This cannot be the intended or permissible consequence of this policy.”
Maclino Rodrigues, a Harrods night cleaner of eight years, said: “No one wants to go on strike, everyone needs to work, we have used up all other options; we have raised it verbally, formally and informally and tried to solve this amicably.”
The cleaners have now instructed their union UVW to send Harrods a Notice of Intention to Ballot and strike dates will be announced soon.
Harrods has acknowledged the dispute but says it does not plan to engage with the union. A spokesperson added the holiday policy was to ensure that “holiday is taken fairly and consistently across the team, as well as ensuring the business can continue to operate during its busiest periods”.
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