Birmingham-based 2 Sisters, which runs Holland’s Pies and Fox’s Biscuits, has signed a five-year contract with Sheffield-based Gunstones Bakery, and elsewhere at the company there are further BFAWU strikes planned.

A spokesperson for 2 Sisters told British Baker: “We can confirm we have secured a new five-year bakery contract at Gunstones.”

2 Sisters acquired Gunstones from Northern Foods in 2011, and recruited around 200 extra staff two years later (the site already employed around 1,400 people) to “meet demand”. The company said at the time shoppers were switching to more fashionable lines such as flatbreads, and demand had increased as a result.

Elsewhere, 2 Sisters is in dispute at two of its other plants. Members of the Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union (BFAWU) staged a 48-hour walk out last week (5 June) at its Pennine Foods factory, over plans to change their employment contracts. A week-long strike is also planned to begin at the factory from 16 June, (correct at the time of going to press).

BFAWU members at RF Brookes factory in Rogerstone, Newport also conducted a 48-hour strike from 2-4 June over changes to their working conditions. The union is in talks with the company and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service at the Rogerstone factory. 

Last month Birmingham-based 2 Sisters said avian influenza impacted its financial results for the year ending 1 August 2015.