‘It’s still not perfect – but a lot better than before’ - my story of unionising at Net-A-Porter

Health and safety reps have been at the forefront of the pandemic ensuring workplaces are safe for workers to do their jobs.  

I recently interviewed Dele Akinfolarin, GMB/Net-A-Porter Health and Safety representative and recipient of the TUC Congress 2021 award for special commendation for health and safety work. 

We spoke about how the union has made a huge difference to him and his colleagues at Net-A-Porter. 

What were the main issues at Net-A-Porter?

There were a number of issues - including:

• We were forced to work up to an extra 8 days per year, under a program called “Uplift. This was on top of our contractual hours, and on days that the company chose, which could include bank holidays and weekends. 

• There was a very strict and unfair management approach to achieving key performance indicators.  

• Junior managers regularly bullied staff members to increase performance out-puts and ignored concerns and complaints of discrimination, misogyny, bullying, harassment, and discrimination.  

• The pay and reward structure was unfair and inconsistent.  

• Staff members were not listened to by management.  

• Nepotism and favouritism were widespread within the company. 

• There was no effective method of collective action and the grievance policy was set to unfairly benefit the company. 

This enabled the business to maximise its profits at the cost, and to the detriment of workers.  

What did you and your colleagues do to raise the issue? 

We regularly put forward grievances, complaints, asked for mediation and had one-to-one sessions.  

These were regularly disregarded or downplayed. 

How did the union get involved? 

In mid-2019, the GMB Union started to hand out invitations, calling for staff members to join the union, promising representation and collective action for fair pay and conditions. 

A group of us joined forces with the GMB and encouraged our colleagues to join the union - explaining the benefits of collective action and representation on pay and conditions.  

We managed to achieve 50% membership within our bargaining block.  

Once this happened, the GMB requested discussions regarding a recognition agreement with YNAP. This was refused, with the company stating that the Union was not within its rights to request a recognition agreement. 

GMB took the company to court – and won.  

Tell us how the union organised workers to take action?  

In Autumn 2019, GMB recruited 5 Health and Safety representatives and workplace organisers through voting methods and quickly equipped us with training, coaching and support.  

Most importantly, we were extensively trained in organising and recruitment. This was all funded by the GMB, who ensured that all required training was approved by Net-A-Porter.  

Tell us some examples of union action that took place.

• We drove safe working practices within Net-A-Porter by increasing measures in Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of Work documents. This included one way access, ingress and egress systems, thermal imagery cameras, hand sanitiser stations and increased ventilation.  

• Challenging our Director and Senior HR Management to make our distribution centre Covid-secure. This went as far as forcing DC1 warehouse, which consists of over 1,000 staff to shut for 30 days. When management refused to stop production for a short period to make the distribution centre Covid safe, we went public to the national and local media, social media and on review/rating agencies. 

• Homophobic graffiti was written about one of our members. Our member reported this to a manager, but the manager completely ignored the complaint. When this was reported to us, we kept the evidence and raised the issue with senior management - pressing them to take action. The manager no longer works for the company. 

• The company has used “Fire and Rehire” tactics for over a decade. Agency staff would be let go just before their three month period and rehired through a different agency. GMB, under the umbrella of our recognition agreement, negotiated better working conditions for all staff members. This brought about fixed term contracts for all our colleagues, with contracts of two year terms, after which we negotiated full time positions. We have negotiated 122 full time, permanent contracts in the last four months.  

Did you receive support for the campaign from colleagues earlier on?  

The vast majority of colleagues were immediately behind our campaign.  

We met barriers from the company who blocked our way and discouraged colleagues from joining the union.  

We’re continuing to communicate with non-member colleagues to ensure that more workers get the benefits of trade unions and collective bargaining and are given the option to play a full part in their union - knowing that when they do, we all benefit.   

What was the results of the organising campaign and was there positive changes made? 

Before we unionised, it was a place of zero-hour contracts, bullying and discrimination and where health and safety was, quite frankly, a joke.  

Since we unionised, things have changed.  

We now have permanent contracts, pay rises, and health and safety is treated with the seriousness it deserves. 

Homophobic, bullying, sexist, racist or misogynist managers have been given their marching orders. 

It’s not perfect, but it is a lot better than what we had before. 

What did you learn through this process? 

I personally learnt the power of collective action and the importance of recruiting, organising - and celebrating wins!

Dele Akinfolarin, GMB/Net-A-Porter Health and Safety Representative 

Interview by Tanya Warlock, Digital Projects Officer,TUC Education  

Watch our Lifting covid restrictions, impact on workers webinar to hear more about Dele’s story at Net-A-Porter.