Harrods strike ballot after non-union staff are promised bonus

Staff at Harrods are to be balloted over strike action in a dispute about days off and pay.

The union Unite said the boss of the Knightsbridge store, Mohamed Fayed, is understood to have told staff, over the Harrods loudspeaker, that they would be given two extra days' leave as a reward for hard work.

Drivers, warehouse operatives, engineers and maintenance workers who are members of the union were furious when they found that the deal only applied to shop floor staff.

Staff are also angry at the 3.5 per cent pay rise they have been offered. Unite began balloting 235 workers today and the result is expected on 3 September. Unite regional officer Debbie McSweeney said: "The world's most famous store faces a very expensive strike. Our members keep Harrods running."

Richard Munn, a Unite regional official, said: "It is very worrying that those workers who were not given two extra days holidays are in a recognised union, while the shop floor workers who got the extra leave do not have a recognised union."

A spokesman for Harrods said: "Whilst industrial action would be inconvenient, it would in no way jeopardise the operation of the store nor the customer experience.

"To succumb to the union's demands would give Unite members greater benefits than those enjoyed by other Harrods' employees.

"Harrods will not be increasing the pay award, nor will it agree to the demand for two further days holiday."