SUPERMARKET workers are “stressed and worried” over “flawed” new contracts.

Employees at Asda have said the new contract, known as “contract six”, has “stripped back” many of their benefits.

If they do not sign the contract, workers are given a minimum 12 weeks to change their mind before they are let go.

An employee at Asda’s store in Brighton Marina, who wished to remain anonymous, called the process “ruthless”.

“Loyalty means nothing to them,” she said.

“It’s either people sign the contract or lose their jobs, and they can’t lose their jobs.

“It feels like long-serving employees have been betrayed.”

The new contract has raised pay to £9 per hour.

But workers said many other benefits have been “stripped back”.

The anonymous worker said: “If you worked a bank holiday that wasn’t over Christmas, you would be paid time and a half.

“But with the new contract there are no premiums.

“And before you used to be able to have festive bank holidays off and still get paid.

“After next year they’re still voluntary, but if you’re not contracted to work them, you have to use holiday on that day, otherwise it’s unpaid.

“Because a lot of workers have different contract types, everyone is affected differently.

“But there’s been a lot of stress and worry.”

Gary Carter, national officer for the GMB union, called the contract dispute a “total outrage”.

He said: “Our hard-working members are telling us they are signing these new contracts for fear of not being able to pay the bills.

“It’s sapping away morale and heaping misery on our members.

“Asda needs to show some respect and listen to the workers whose hard work make the company’s profits.”

An Asda spokesman claimed the “overwhelming majority” of employees had signed the new contract.

“The retail sector is undergoing significant change and it is important that we are able to keep pace with these changes,” he said.

“While we appreciate that some of our colleagues find the changes more unsettling, we do not want any of them to leave.

“We have been clear that we understand colleagues have commitments outside of work and will not be asking them to constantly move the time they work.”

The spokesman said the new contracts cost Asda more than £80 million extra and would increase the pay of more than 100,000 retail workers. The news came as the supermarket reported a fall in sales in the first half of 2019, blamed on Brexit.