The Transport and General Workers Union told just-food today (5 February) that it is considering strike action against Grampian Country Foods over issues of pay, pensions and the use of casual labour.
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According to the union, Grampian has threatened a pay freeze unless self-financing pay rises were agreed locally – a move that is often used to force workers into accepting redundancies, the T&G said. The union told just-food that Grampian has also cut pensions by 10% without consultation. The use of agency workers is also an issue of concern for the T&G: “While there will always be some use of a casual workforce in an industry with fluctuating production needs, casual workers account for as much as 40% of the workforce at non-peak times,” a union representative told just-food.
About 2,000 workers at Grampian Foods will be balloted for strike action unless the row is resolved. Union leaders will meet shop stewards from Grampian Foods this week, following a consultation exercise that saw 75% of members involved vote to strike.
“This should not come as a shock to Grampian. We have warned the directors that unless they got a grip of what was happening at their various plants we would go down this route,” said Chris Kaufman, T&G national secretary for food and agriculture. “They haven’t, so we will.”
Grampian supplies various poultry and pork products to Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Morrisons, and Marks and Spencer. Plans are being drawn up for selected protests outside some of these stores should there be a yes vote for strike action, the union confirmed.
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By GlobalDataA spokesperson for Grampian told just-food that the company was unable to comment on the situation. “We have had no direct contact from the union, so until we receive notification of a strike vote it is very difficult for us to comment,” the company said.
