Unite the Union has stepped up its action against Bakkavor in the ongoing dispute over rates of pay at its site in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Union members at the production facility have been on strike for six weeks having walked out on Friday 27 September after rejecting a proposed pay increase of 7.8% to the lowest paid colleagues and 6.4% across all other grades.
There is some dispute about the number of employees on strike. Unite claims it to be over 700 but Bakkavor insists it’s around 450 while noting that there are 700 members of Unite at the site with not all of them are taking part in the industrial action. In total, there is a 1,400-strong workforce at the location.
The union has now taken the ‘fight for fair pay’ to Reykjavik, Iceland where it lobbied Bakkavor’s biggest shareholders Agust and Lydur Gudmundsson who collectively own just under half of the company’s shares. Supported by the Efling Icelandic trade union, protests took place across the Icelandic capital earlier this week (6 November), including at the homes of the Gudmundsson brothers, the headquarters of their holding company, and at a film school owned by Agust.
“We have come to Iceland to demand the Gudmundsson brothers use their influence to secure fair pay for Bakkavor workers in Lincolnshire,” said Unite organised Clare Peden. “Unite members in Spalding feed Britain. They work long shifts, in tough conditions, and just want to be able to earn a living and support their families. Unite will not relent in our dispute with the company.”
However, Bakkavor has hit back in a bid to ‘set the record straight’.
The firm said it has offered colleagues a discretionary £350 per person bonus, in addition to the proposed pay rises, to try and resolve the strike.
“It is now clear to us that it is becoming increasingly difficult to resolve this dispute with Unite and get people back to work anytime soon,” said Donna-Maria Lee, chief people officer at Bakkavor. “We have engaged the Union in discussions since the start, and our CEO met with them recently out of a genuine desire to resolve the issue.”
Lee highlighted the “above inflation pay rise” and bonus and criticised Unite for its activities in Iceland when “the real task for them is to settle a dispute in Spalding”. “It takes both parties to engage and whilst we have sought to resolve the issue. I met with the Union this week and it is clear that Unite has little interest in moving forward with the situation at Spalding and is intent on lobbying, publicity and politics, rather than solving a strike that they called for,” she added.
Bakkavor CEO Mike Edwards highlighted the union’s right to campaign but said the company’s responsibility was to be “fair and sustainable” for the long term. Pay deals need to be fair to colleagues across Bakkavor’s 21 sites – which produce desserts, pizza, bread, salads, and more – with Edwards adding that the firm believes the offer proposed is “entirely fair based on the context in which we are operating”.
“Our offer of a pay rise and bonus to Spalding colleagues has now gone to a union ballot and Unite are recommending their members reject it. If this happens, we will be at an impasse (a ‘failure to agree’) and we will work to find a way to offer the increases to rates of pay and the bonus to all colleagues at Spalding on an individual basis,” Edwards said.
“If accepted by individuals, this will see new rates implemented, back pay processed and bonus paid before Christmas which is what the majority of our Spalding colleagues want.”
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