Strike threat at food supplier Supermarkets could be hit as staff unhappy at new management ‘dictatorship’
TRADE union members at a giant food supplier could be balloted over strike action in an ongoing dispute with management, potentially affecting supply to thousands of supermarkets.
The news follows a protest this week outside the 2 Sisters Food Group office in Birmingham city centre by staff from its West Midland factories. Members of Unite are unhappy at what the union said was the disintegration of a previously successful industrial relationship with the company following a recent change in management.
It comes on the back of four separate disciplinary procedures against West Midlands staff, three of which are still ongoing while a fourth was concluded without the staff member being dismissed.
The 2 Sisters group, owned by Midland-based Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Singh, supplies poultry products to supermarkets and also owns brands such as Goodfella’s pizza, Fox’s biscuits and fish and chip restaurant chain Harry Ramsden’s.
The protest attracted around 100 staff carrying placards with slogans such as ‘We are not slaves’ and ‘ We can’t work in prison’.
Unite’s Sulinder Singh said: “The issue there is that members are very upset and feel they have reached a point where the employer is behaving like a dictatorship.
“During the past two months, there have been new management and advisers come on board which has unpicked established industrial relations. It was operating fairly well but they have come in which has seen unrest across five plants in the West Midlands. Our members are concerned the employer is operating well outside of due process and infringing upon workers’ rights.
“There’s a distinct possibility that we would ballot for strike action and this could spread outside of the West Midlands and to 2 Sisters sites across the UK. The messages we are getting on from the shop floor is that there’s no interest in finding any solutions.”
Mr Singh said he would be speaking to bond holders in the company and also customers including UK supermarkets in order to raise these concerns and others regarding health and safety in the workplace and secret recording of staff in the workplace. A statement from 2 Sisters said: “We are currently undertaking disciplinary proceedings with four colleagues in two of our West Midlands sites. These are going through the normal procedural steps, with three of them under investigation pending disciplinary hearings. The fourth has attended a disciplinary hearing which did not result in a dismissal.
“While we cannot comment on individual cases, we can confirm they are all shop stewards of the Unite union in the West Midlands and each case is unconnected. We do not understand the purpose of the union’s protest, which took place before the disciplinary hearings, and therefore the outcome has not yet been determined.
“As a defining principle, all colleagues going through such processes are treated in an impartial and fair way, regardless of union membership.”