Booker drivers accept new pay offer

The threat of strike action among HGV drivers at Tesco-owned wholesaler Booker Retail Partners has been lifted after drivers accepted a new pay deal.

The Unite union said industrial action was cancelled following a vote on the offer from the company.

The long-running dispute involving all 40 drivers at Booker’s Thamesmead depot centred on what they claimed was a failure of the Tesco subsidiary to include them in a temporary £5 an hour pay uplift which the company had granted to drivers at its Hemel Hempstead site.

Unite regional officer Paul Travers said its members voted “overwhelmingly” for the new pay deal: “It is a good deal that owes much to the solidarity that our members displayed during the dispute,” he added.

“The details of the offer remain confidential.

“Our members are working normally and we wish to have a constructive dialogue with the management as we move forward.”