Staff at luxury store Harrods to strike ahead of busy Christmas

LONDON

Hundreds of staff at London's luxury department store Harrods will walk out just days before Christmas, a union has said, in a row over pay and working conditions.

The strike at the store, whose late former owner Mohamed Al-Fayed is now accused of being a serial sex offender, will target some of its busiest retail days on Dec. 21 and 22 as well as Dec. 26, or Boxing Day, traditionally the launch of the busy end-of-year sales.

Workers including shop, restaurant, kitchen and cleaning staff had "no option" but to vote to strike "as Harrods' management refuses to recognise or engage with their union for negotiations," the United Voices of the World (UVW) union said in a statement.

"Pay and conditions have deteriorated even as the company rewards its owners and top executives with exorbitant payouts," it added.

Among the workers' demands are an annual bonus, guaranteed above inflation pay rises and better staffing levels.

Some 95 percent of UVW union members who were balloted voted to strike.

Fayed, who died last year aged 94, owned the store for 25 years until 2010.

London's Metropolitan Police, which is investigating the sexual assault claims against him, said last month it had so far identified 90 victims.

It comes in the wake of a BBC documentary, aired in September, that detailed several claims of rape and sexual assault against him.

The Egyptian billionaire was one of Britain's most well-known businessmen. His son Dodi was killed in a 1997 Paris car crash alongside Princess Diana, the former wife of King Charles III.