Greencore cake company staff planning 24-hour strike at Hull factory
HUNDREDS of workers at Greencore's Hull factory are planning a 24-hour walkout over changes to their pay and conditions.
Employees at Greencore Cakes and Desserts will take industrial action on Wednesday.
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Fighting back: Workers at Greencore staging a protest in July last year. Pictures: Jerome Ellerby
Unite, the UK's biggest union, said the company is forcing its workers to take the action because of the changes it is attempting to introduce.
The mass protest, from 5am on Wednesday to 4.59am the following day, will be the first to affect the Hull site and will hit its production of cakes supplied to supermarkets including Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
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About 500 workers have been fighting to claw back pay after Greencore suspended their terms and conditions in October 2011.
Unite say employees are losing up to £40 per week from their wages.
Michael Hancock, regional officer at Unite, said: "This workforce has never taken a day's strike action but feel they have no other option.
"We urge the company now to take heed. They have brought this workforce to the point of despair.
"They have forced the workers to take their employer to court over what is rightfully theirs.
"They are determined to stand up for decent treatment and Unite will support them every step of the way."
According to Unite, Greencore, whose revenue rocketed by nearly 45 per cent in 2012, is seeking to impose changes to terms and conditions and remove shift, overtime and bank holiday pay.
The workers recently voted to take action, angered by the company's breach of promise.
Last year, Greencore was forced by a tribunal to reverse the changes, which the union claims would strip the workforce of £1.2m in wages.
However, Unite said the firm has attempted to dodge the court's ruling by simply issuing new contracts to the workforce.
Jennie Formby, national officer for the food industry at Unite, has accused the firm of "robbing wage packets".
She said: "When brought into line by the law, Greencore simply ignores it.
"It is entirely shameful behaviour."
10 Comments
by dontwo
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:42PM
“Greencore?. They should change their name to something which reflects their attitude towards loyal staff. Rotten to the core.”
by hugostiglitz
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:27PM
“Don't want to seem negative & I appreciate these people taking a stand but isn't this company renowned for using lots of agency people on a day to day basis making a walkout a bit meaningless?”
by jennieformby
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:17PM
“It's full time workers who will be on strike on Wednesday as it is permanent contracts that have been under attack”
by hugostiglitz
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:05PM
“Are these the full time workers or the agency people?”
by jennieformby
Monday, January 28 2013, 2:33PM
“Thanks for now removing the incorrect paragraph”
by jennieformby
Monday, January 28 2013, 1:10PM
“Please note this article has reported our press release inaccurately; Unite is NOT asking Asda and other retailers to seek other suppliers; we are asking them to put pressure on their supply chain, including Greencore, to do the right thing.
Jennie Formby, National Officer, Unite”
by Jahmez
Monday, January 28 2013, 12:57PM
“Unite should be careful for what it wishes for in "appealing to retailers such as Asda to seek other suppliers" because as sure as day follows night the supermarkets will and Unite will then be bleating about redundancies at Greencore because customers have permanently taken business away”
by dascodave
Monday, January 28 2013, 11:34AM
“solidarity brothers,don't let the capitalist bourgeoisie grind you down!!!!”
by KiminHull
Monday, January 28 2013, 10:29AM
“About a year ago Greencores share price was about 60p. Now it's 114p, nearly double and still rising. The increase will pay dividends for the elite who have large numbers of shares in this company. However the company is trading on broken promises to it's workforce and has taken wages out of it's work forces pockets to fund the shareholders profits. Good luck to all the workers and Unite. You deserve to get your pay back given the companies profitability.”
by dascodave
Monday, January 28 2013, 9:27AM
“AAAAAH! unite,the trade union which now has staff and shop stewards from eastern europe on its staff,they days of shunning the british workforce for cheap controllable foreign labour are long gone and its starting to seem that this tactick is now starting to have consiquences.After all the strongest movement of trade unionism comes from the likes of poland and solidarity.....”