Unite has announced further industrial action at Encirc’s bottle manufacturing plant in Cheshire.
Having already agreed to walk out from 3 to 7 April in a dispute over plans to reduce headcount at the site, workers at Encirc’s Elton factory are to down tools again on night shifts from 16 to 28 April, and then from 9 to 15 May.
Encirc has made around 30 redundancies at the Cheshire site – a move it said was necessary due to dwindling demand for glass bottles and rising costs.
However, Unite said the reduction in headcount would “lead to issues around health and safety” at the factory, which produces bottles for alcohol brands including Jameson, Baileys, Budweiser and Coors, as well as for own-label supermarket wines.
“Members have said they leave shifts physically fatigued and mentally drained and they fear this could lead to accidents at work,” it added.
“Further strike action will no doubt be disruptive to Encirc’s operations – but it is entirely the fault of the employer,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said. “By implementing redundancies, Encirc put profits over people. Encirc must now provide meaningful solutions to workers’ legitimate concerns and our members there continue to have our full support.”
Unite regional officer Andrew Johnson added: “Encirc management has failed to come back to talks around how to solve the problems with health, safety and wellbeing, so members there have felt they have had no choice but to escalate strike action.”
An Encirc said it was “incredibly disappointed” by the fresh industrial action.
“We would never do anything that puts anyone at risk, and the decisions we make are based on detailed evidence, independent expertise, and the legal duty we hold to provide a safe working environment,” a spokesman said. “We take the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff very seriously and all our operations are fully risk assessed before they are implemented.”
“The reality is that glass production in the UK has seen a downturn over the last 18 months, with cost of living impacts, high energy costs and government policies in the UK, such as the new packaging tax (extended producer responsibility), impacting the industry.”
Encirc had “full contingency plans in place” and there would be no shortage of bottles in the UK, the spokesman insisted.
“We, of course, always remain open to dialogue with the trade union,” he added.
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