Unite meat workers
take strike action at Vion Foods
20 February
Unite members at the food firm Vion in Cambuslang will walkout on today
in the first in a series of walkouts planned in a dispute over terms and
conditions. The workers voted massively in favour of industrial action
in an official ballot where 92% of members voted for strike action with
94% voting in favour of action short of strike on a 72% turnout.
The site is one of approximately forty UK sites employing 12,500 workers
owned by Vion NV, a Netherlands based multi-national who are the largest
meat processing company in Europe and the 4th largest in the world as
measured by 2010 sales. In it's 2010 accounts the company reported that
it employed almost 27,000 workers worldwide and had an
€8.9 billion
turnover.
The workers at Cambuslang have been in dispute with the company since
their October anniversary date following an offer from the company of a
2% increase plus some improvements in holidays. At the same time The
Scotsman newspaper reported that the UK business had tripled it's
profits the previous year.
The 2% offer is in real terms a pay cut for the workers with RPI having
been around 5% for the previous year. It mirrors the 2% reluctantly
accepted the previous year, again when RPI was at 5%, and follows a pay
freeze the year before.
A Unite spokesman said "You can't keep asking workers, year on year to
accept attacks on their terms and conditions - they are going to fight
back and rightly so. We are talking about the 4th largest meat processor
in the world here. The average wage at Cambuslang is approx £7 per hour,
its not intensive wages but it is intensive labour and the workers
deserve to be fairly rewarded for their labour. We had hoped the company
would see sense and come up with a improved offer but they have dug
their heels in. The door remains open for them but if they don't grasp
the opportunity then there will be an escalation of the dispute".
With the company showing no signs of moving to resolve the dispute, the
strike is likely to intensify with further strike dates set to be named
targeting key production periods over the next three months. Other Unite
branches within the meat sector have sent messages of solidarity and
have pledged further support if a resolution is not swiftly reached.
