Biscuit bakers in wages strike threat
PRODUCTION of Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodger biscuits could be halted at a factory amid a row over pay, union bosses have warned.
The GMB said its members plan to stage a series of strikes in its dispute with bosses at Burton’s Biscuits in Sighthill, Edinburgh.
The union has accused the manufacturer, which also makes Maryland cookies, of making a ‘derisory’ pay offer which was an ‘insult’ to workers.
It said staff will stage three 24-hour walkouts, with the first due to take place at 6am tomorrow.
A Burton’s Biscuits spokesman said the firm was ‘shocked’ at the GMB’s request for a 7 per cent pay rise but was ‘always open to meaningful discussions on pay’.
More than 400 workers are employed at the factory, which produces around 7.5million biscuits a day.
GMB members at the plant voted by 91 per cent for industrial action after management refused to increase a 1.6 per cent pay offer for the next year, the union said.
An indefinite work to rule and overtime ban begins from 2pm today ahead of the series of 24-hour strikes tomorrow, and at 6am on September 16 and September 23. GMB Scotland organiser Benny Rankin said: ‘Burton’s stubborn stance on this year’s pay offer is an insult to staff that have worked throughout the lockdown at management’s insistence. Burton’s derisory pay offer holds a mirror up to this management. They clearly do not value the contribution of their staff.’ He added: ‘Their refusal to meaningfully engage with a workforce that deserve so much better means we have been left with little choice but to strike.’ The company, which also makes Cadbury biscuits under a perpetual licence, has three sites in the UK employing 2,200 workers. Last week, a poll by Perspectus Global of 2,000 Britons on their favourite biscuits saw Jammie Dodgers voted into seventh place.
Biscuit fans were quick to take to social media to comment on the potential shortage of Jammie Dodgers. Paula Surridge wrote: ‘This is terrible news. Impossible to survive term without them.’
Journalist Dan Johnson wrote: ‘Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse.’
Burton’s Biscuits, which is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan investment company, said the union was being unreasonable.
A spokesman for the firm accused the union of not sharing offers about pay and flexible working openly with members and said there has been a £1.2million impact on the bakery during the coronavirus pandemic.
He added: ‘Against the backdrop of growing economic uncertainty, the country entering a depression and rising levels of unemployment, we have made what we consider to be a series of very fair and reasonable offers.
‘Our desire is to find a mutually acceptable solution for our colleagues and the business, and we are willing to resume discussions with employees’ representatives.
‘We hope we can return to full production as soon as possible.’
‘We have made reasonable offers’