Harrods security guards’ strike suspended after renewed talks

Strike action by security officers and CCTV operators at department store Harrods has been suspended following renewed talks with the company, Unite revealed on 21 February.

The union is recommending members accept a new pay offer tabled by Harrods, which the union said was reached following “constructive negotiations and hard work” by both sides.

Unite members will be balloted on the offer next week. The details of the offer are confident.

Planned strike action for Wednesday 26 February and Saturday 29 February has now been cancelled, while two other strikes set for March have been suspended pending the outcome of the ballot.

Unite regional officer, Balvinder Bir, said: “This offer is a positive development and came about because of constructive negotiations and hard work by both the union and Harrods. Unite is recommending that our members accept the offer and strike action has now been suspended to allow a ballot to take place.

“As this is an ongoing process, Unite will not be making any further comments at this time.”

Earlier this month, Unite said talks of a strike started after staff members stated that they were being “underpaid”.

It also said staff were being required to “undertake unpaid work” and added guards were made to attend an unpaid “training day” once every eight weeks, which formed part of the dispute.

A spokesperson for Harrods told Retail Sector: “Despite almost 12 months of pay talks, which the business has conducted with Unite and its representatives in an open and collaborative manner, Harrods is extremely disappointed and saddened that Unite members within the Harrods Uniformed Security team have voted to strike.

“To reiterate, whilst we had hoped to resolve this matter without strike action, the continued safety and security of our employees and customers is now our priority. Harrods is confident that we will be able to continue to run our operations without disruption to our staff or customers, and will trade as normal during strike action.”

They added: “While Harrods respects the parameters of the industrial action, extra measures are being put in place throughout strike action to ensure the safety and security of the store.

“This includes deploying existing trained security experts within our teams, as well as upskilling other internal teams to support. Harrods customers will not be impacted and the high levels of security within Harrods will continue to be upheld at all times.”