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UNI and UNI Commerce
express their support for the Asda Wal-Mart distribution centre strike In a message to Paul Kenny, general secretary of UK-affiliate GMB, UNI's Philip J. Jennings expressed the support of the global union and its commerce sector for the strike that has been declared as of this Friday, at several Asda Wal-Mart distribution centres. - Your members' struggle for recognition and proper conditions at these distribution centres is important for Wal-Mart's workers around the globe, the message stated. - Your success will show that the world's largest retailer and employer cannot ignore their social responsibility and cannot continue their flagrant violations of the fundamental rights of their workers. The strike will "serve as a source of inspiration, contributing to the resolve of unions all around the globe to intensify their struggle against the destructive and dangerous walmartization of working life, the UNI general secretary wrote. We will not use agency workers to break the strike, company tells UNI Reacting to a UNI Commerce Website article yesterday, the Asda Wal-Mart management commented in an e-mail on the labour conflict, from the company's point of view. They denied that they would be taking on agency workers as strike breakers - "We may be daft, but we're not that daft" - but said that they would be taking regular workers by bus to their centres, as "many have expressed concerns over being filmed when crossing the picket line". In a web article dated yesterday, GMB says that the company is indeed stocking up on employees, preparing for a strike: - GMB members working in Asda Wal-Mart's 20 distributions depots have reported that these agencies are currently pre-loading staff into the depots. GMB members consider that they have been employed to break the strike. GMB members report that the depots are currently overstaffed with agency workers and that trailers have been preloaded and moved to third party locations to be illegally driven to stores by agency drivers on strike days. GMB is compiling a list of these locations.
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