London protest at M&S redundancies highlights consultation issues

An international trade union demonstration was held in London in May 2001 to protest against Marks & Spencer's controversial closure plans for its continental European stores. Union leaders called for the early adoption of the draft EU Directive on employee information and consultation, but the Confederation of British Industry rejected claims that the measure would improve consultation over redundancies.

On 17 May 2001, an international trade union demonstration took place in London to demand the withdrawal of the Marks & Spencer (M&S) retail group's controversial decision to close its continental European stores with the loss of 3,350 jobs (FR0104147F). According to trade union estimates, over 2,000 protestors - including M&S employees from France, Belgium,Spain and Ireland- attended a rally against the redundancies before marching past the group's corporate headquarters in Baker Street and its flagship Marble Arch store, finishing at Hyde Park. M&S employees were joined by workers from other European supermarket chains, including Carrefour, and from companies such as Danone, Corus and Vauxhall where major redundancies have been announced in recent months (UK0102113F and UK0012104F).

The event was organised by Union Network International (UNI), the international trade union federation which represents shop workers' unions, and the UK Trades Union Congress (TUC). Speakers at the rally included the general secretaries of the European Trade Union Confederation, UNI and the TUC, as well as representatives from M&S stores in Brussels and Paris. The Financial Times reported that a meeting also took place between officials from UNI and the UK Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) and a senior M&S management representative, at which the unions urged the company to engage in discussion about alternative ways of tackling its problems. M&S reportedly said that it remained committed to consulting its staff over the closures.

Speaking at a press briefing before the march, the TUC general secretary, John Monks, called on M&S to reconsider the announced closure of its European operations and its mail order business in the UK which, he claimed, were not losing money but were being closed to impress business analysts and investors. He said that the demonstration also highlighted the wider issue of the rights of workers faced with redundancy. On 9 April, a French court had suspended the closure of M&S stores in France until the company has fulfilled all its information and consultation obligations under French law. Mr Monks said: "It is not just M&S employees who have found they have been sacked with no real notice. Behaviour that is both illegal and unacceptable in France is all too common here as workers at Corus, Vauxhall and many others have found." The unions were therefore renewing their call for the "swift passage" of the draft EU Directive on national employee information and consultation rules (EU0012285F). This would require companies "to talk to and consult their staff on a continuing basis - not just when it's too late and redundancies are a fait accompli".

On the day of the march, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) issued a statement arguing that the proposed EU Directive would not improve redundancy consultation, which employers already have to undertake under British law or "face stiff penalties", but could "artificially strengthen the role of trade unions". John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director-general, said that the Directive "offer[ed] unions influence over a range of day-to-day management decisions, not just redundancies", and added that CBI opposition to the Directive was "non-negotiable".