An agreement has been reached between Clarks and the trade union Community to end a strike at the shoe retailer’s warehouse in Somerset over a controversial 'fire and rehire' policy.
In a joint statement released on Wednesday (December 1) Community and Clarks announced that following mediation with conciliation service Acas “normal working” was set to resume at the Westway warehouse in Street.
The statement said: “We are pleased that a resolution has been reached that works in everybody’s interests, protects Community members’ livelihoods, and recognises their loyalty to Clarks.
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“Following an indicative ballot of Community members it is confirmed that normal working has now resumed.
“Community and Clarks express their thanks to Acas for its support and look forward to close co-operation as we move on from the dispute and commit to positive industrial relations in the future.”
BusinessLive contacted Clarks and Community for more detail on the conditions of the agreement. Both organisations said they would not be commenting any further than the statement.
The resolution ends a dispute that stretches back to October, when more than 100 Clarks staff walked over the 'fire and rehire' policy saying it would reduce pay and conditions.
Clarks had said its move would help protect the future of the firm, which was founded in 1825, after it posted a record loss during the pandemic of £180m for the last financial year, including a £600m drop in revenue - down 45%.
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Clarks previously said it had made “significant multiple concessions” in talks and had offered to increase pay for all Westway employees by 5.6% to £10.03 per hour, to recognise the Government’s recent announcement on National Minimum Wage increases from April 2022.
The company previously criticised Community’s contributions to talks, saying it had failed to offer any “meaningful proposals”, with both sides confirming contact with mediators in November to efforts to help resolves the dispute.
Clarks previously said it had been “disappointed” by the union’s response to concerns it had raised that employees at the distribution centre had reportedly suffered abuse from the picket line when attending work.
Community said it had acted “in accordance with the law” in regard to the dispute.
Prior to that, Clarks had denied claims from Community that it had been illegally employing agency workers to cover the strike.
Clarks responded that it had maintained the same number of agency workers that were working at the beginning of the strike, fully within the law.
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