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Asda has said it remains confident of reaching an agreement with the GMB union by next Tuesday on a new collective agreement at its Dartford depot.

Asda wants to "modernise the current, outdated agreement" at the depot and warned that if progress had not been made by the end of the month then the existing agreement between the GMB and the company will be "terminated".

A meeting is taking place today between the two sides at the depot.

It is understood there are some sticking points, with GMB officials wanting to be appointed for life rather than have a formal re-election process.

A spokeswoman for Asda said: "We have reached local agreement on new absence and disciplinary procedures and are confident that we'll reach local agreement on outstanding issues."

The supermarket said it had no wish to move away from its collective agreement with the union.

"All along, we've been quite clear that the aim of our discussions is to update our collective agreement. All we've done is say that we don't want negotiations to drag on for another 10 months," the spokeswoman said.