Tesco has lost a Supreme Court battle over so-called “fire-and-rehire” plans put forward by the supermarket giant.
The row began in 2021 after Tesco proposed firing staff at some distribution centres and rehiring them on lower pay, prompting the Usdaw union to take legal action.
During the pandemic a number of big businesses tried to dismiss workers and hire them back straight away – on worse deals.
It prompted calls from trade unions and opposition politicians for employment rights to be strengthened including banning the practice, commonly known as “fire-and-rehire”.
The most noticeable case was that of P&O Ferries, which fired 800 of its workers in 2022. It was not accused of adopting a straightforward “fire-and-rehire” strategy, because it used an agency to replace sacked staff.
But unions said there were lots of overlapping concerns particularly around job security.
