Workers at 2 Sisters Food Group have voted to strike for three days in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The first of three 24-hour walk outs by 1,200 workers will start at 6am on Friday 14 December.
The strike affects 2 Sisters’ Bevan Way and Dial Lane sites in Smethwick, West Bromwich, and the Lincoln Street plant in Wolverhampton.
Subsequent strikes will be held on Tuesday 18 December and Friday 21 December. Workers also voted to work-to-rule and refuse overtime continuously from Friday 14 December.
Some 98.5% of the workers, represented by union Unite, voted in favour of a strike on 57% turnout.
The workers complaints concern a pay offer of 20p an hour, when the majority of workers earn £6.22 an hour, shift patterns for a proposed seven day working week and a “culture of alleged beatings and bullying”.
“The management should be under no illusion at the depth of anger that our members feel at the way they have been treated for far too long by this company,” said Unite regional officer Des Quinn.
“Unite is willing to hold talks with the company in the days ahead to achieve a fair and equitable settlement on the pay issue and other matters that are of vital concern to our members.”
A 2 Sisters spokesman said the pay offer was above inflation and that the company had already revised some terms of its offer by backdating a pay increase to August and removing contentious parking charges it had planned to introduce.
“We’re very disappointed that Unite has voted to reject our above inflation pay offer and opt for industrial action and we don’t believe this is reflective of what the majority of employees are telling us individually
“2 Sisters is a growing company, we will be creating 500 jobs in the local area but we can only do this by working with employees and if there is no strike. We will do everything possible to prevent any action going ahead and risking these jobs – we will continue working together with our employees and remain confident that we all want job security, to serve our customers and to grow our business,” he said.
“We still have an attractive and above inflation pay offer on the table – 7% overall over two years, 5% overall in year one, based on 5 in 7 day working to meet what shoppers demand.
“It is essential we can manage our costs to sustain jobs, our sites and to keep competitive – at a time when others have cut jobs and closed factories.”
2 Sisters will be able to supply its customers from other sites and will remain open for employees to come to work as normal, he added.
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