Shoppers could see empty shelves this Christmas as Tesco workers go on strike

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Supermarket shoppers across Scotland could see empty shelves and suffer disrupted online orders in the run-up to Christmas, a union has warned, after Tesco workers voted to strike. “We are talking about the UK’s largest and wealthiest retailer, and the best they offer their workers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic is a real-terms pay cut.” The union said strike action was voted for because of the grocer’s offer of a 4% pay rise, which Unite described as “derisory” and “well below” the current retail price index inflation rate of 6%. And Willie Thomson, Unite’s regional officer, said staff “fully deserve a significant pay rise” and needed to put its “customers and workforce first, settle this dispute or risk shortages over the festive period”. Joanne McGuinness, Usdaw’s national officer, said that “industrial action and possible stock shortages in stores in the week before Christmas can be avoided”, but that it needed Tesco “to engage positively in talks”.