Harrods faces major Christmas strike as staff demand inflation-busting festive bonus

London’s iconic department store Harrods is facing the prospect of major strike action by its staff over the critical Christmas period.

Hundreds of staff, who are members of the United Voices of the World (UVW) union, will vote on strike action in December over what they have described as “poor working conditions” and their festive bonus.

The union said there is a “strong possibility” strike action will go ahead from 19 December. Workers will be balloted on December 4.

Harrods employees have demanded an annual festive bonus of £500, a guaranteed annual pay increase above inflation, and more staff.

Employees are reportedly angry that the store handed out £180m in bonuses to its owners and awarded a £2.1m salary to its managing director, while frontline staff have “faced stripped benefits, staff shortages and stagnant wages”, UVW said.

2024 marked the second year in a row that Harrods, which is owned by the investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, gave the £180m bonus.

UVW said Harrods’ management has so far refused to engage with or recognise the union.

Lourenco Hernandes, a cleaner at the department store, said that conditions have been “getting worse” and that staff feel “disrespected and bullied”.

“One of the biggest problems is the staff shortage. We used to have some 60 cleaners on the early morning shift, and now there are less than half that. We’re doing more than double the work,” Hernandes added. 

Public opinion of Harrods has cratered recently after more than 200 female ex-employees of the store made abuse allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed, with Brits reporting an overall negative opinion of the brand.

While Al Fayed died last year at the age of 94, Harrods’ managing director apologised for his behaviour and said the business “failed our colleagues”, with Al Fayed “presid[ing] over a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct”.

Despite its current public standing, sales jumped to £1bn during its latest financial year, with turnover 8.2 per cent higher year on year.

A spokesperson for Harrods said: “UVW is not a recognised union by Harrods and therefore we do not engage with this organisation on our policies. We continue to have open communication directly with our colleagues and our recognised Unions on pay and benefits.”