Workers at a United Biscuits plant in the UK are to take industrial action – with the first stoppage on Sunday (23 November) – amid what union officials described as a “management culture of disrespect and bullying”.
The walkout at the factory in Aintree is the first of eight individual days of strike action between Sunday and Tuesday 16 December, according to the GMB union.
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The decision came after talks broke down between the GMB and United Biscuits over what the union called “imposed changes to terms and conditions of employment”.
However, United Biscuits – which claimed the industrial action amounted to six days, not eight – said the strikes would “create a significant threat to the future of the site over some truly minor changes in existing and planned working practices”.
Changes to sick pay are at the heart of the dispute. Last week, United Biscuits announced it had temporarily suspended sick pay at the site after a ballot of 800 workers at the factory voted in favour of strike action.
However, the GMB had claimed United Biscuits had written to staff on 5 November “unilaterally suspending sick pay with immediate effect” and telling workers they were looking to source products made at the site elsewhere.
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By GlobalDataThe two sides entered what GMB national office Stuart Fegan today called “last-ditch talks”, which failed to yield agreement.
“The long-serving workforce has been driven to this action by an ever-increasing management culture of disrespect and bullying. This has to come to an end. There will be no constructive progress in the relationship between the workforce and management until this fundamental issue is resolved,” Fegan said.
“The latest acts of withdrawing the sick pay, transferring work from Liverpool to Poland and demands for people to work over Christmas are just the most recent instances in a management culture which believes it can threaten its way to a submissive workforce. The strategy seems to be that the workers should be seen and not heard.”
United Biscuits said the strikes were “counter-productive” and said it had sought to introduce a “modernised absence management system”.
The company said: “This new process will mean improvements in sick pay for over 85% of Aintree staff. No employee is in any way worse off in relation to the proposals being discussed. Casual absence at Aintree is running at 8%, the highest levels we’ve seen since 2006 and three to four times the national average. This means that at any given time one in 12 of the workforce at Aintree is off sick, costing the company 16,000 working days a year. This is unsustainable.”
The Jacob’s biscuit maker, which is set to be sold to Turkey’s Yildiz Holding, also took issue with the union’s claims over working over the festive period.
“The other key issue at the heart of this dispute is over some changes to a two-week Christmas shut down which was agreed in principle with GMB representatives in May of this year. The GMB is demanding that the original factory shut-down be reinstated which is 19 December to 5 January, for a fully-paid two-week break. The GMB knows that such a shutdown would seriously impact the company’s ability to satisfy customer requirements over the peak season. United Biscuits is reserving the right to flex the factory operating up until the afternoon of Christmas Eve on those lines where necessary, recommencing full production on the 5 January. This still gives staff a substantial break over the festive period. Contrary to the statement by the GMB, nobody is being asked to work over Christmas,” it said.
With strikes on the horizon, United Biscuits said it was lining up sourcing products from its other plants and preparing to outsource production to third-parties.
It added: “The GMB has not at any time provided us with a detailed, written proposal. For us, this means colleagues are really not clear about the specific reasons for strike action which in our view is a completely lose-lose outcome. As ever our doors are open to further talks between now and Sunday.”
