XPO in union deal with Community at ASOS warehouse

The Community trade union has reached agreement with XPO over representation of employees at two sites including the giant ASOS distribution centre at Barnsley.

The GMB union has been running a high profile campaign to recruit employees at Barnsley for several months, but a spokesman for Community emphasised that prior to this new agreement there was no recognised union at the site.

ASOS and XPO came in for criticism in September over allegations relating to the treatment of employees at the Barnsley warehouse. Both companies issued strongly worded statements rejecting the allegations – including a six page point-by-point rebuttal by ASOS.

The other location is a multi-user site in Northamptonshire. The union said it already had members in XPO.

Sean Scorer, Community’s national officer for logistics, said: “Community wants to see companies like XPO grow and succeed, but we also want workers to share in that success. This agreement is a positive step in that direction and we look forward to working closely with our members and the company in the coming weeks.”

Community is a relatively small union with some 30,000 members compared to the 630,000 represented by the GMB. Community has been targeting the logistics sector as an area for expansion and also represents depot workers and drivers at Whistl.