Asda HR chief slams union PR campaign against company

Personnel Today magazine will exclusively report tomorrow how the HR director at Asda has launched a stinging attack on the GMB union for waging a ìcynical and deliberateî campaign against the supermarket chain.

The union has already balloted workers at 21 Asda depots over worsening industrial relations. It has also warned the supermarket chain that it could call for a consumer boycott of its stores.

But David Smith, HR director, told Personnel Today that the GMBís campaign was about a union with declining membership ìdesperately seeking to gain fundsî.ì[The GMB] has openly said to us that Asda is a large organisation and therefore a target for them to increase their union dues,î he said. ìThat is the backdrop to this situation.î

Smith denied Asda was attempting to union-bust and defended the companyís HR practices despite the ongoing dispute with the GMB and three tribunal losses in the last few weeks. ìEvery now and then a company genuinely makes a mistake. I donít think itís about HR practices changing, itís the way itís been coloured,î he said. ìThere is a very well-oiled publicity machine cynically and deliberately targeting the business.î

Mike Berry, online news editor at Personnel Today: ìSmithís comments to us are a reflection of the increasingly bitter nature of the dispute between Asda and the GMB. The union claims it is Asda which is in fact running a slick PR campaign against them. With claim and counter claim appearing almost daily, this dispute shows no sign of ending any time soon.î