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Union members at JDE vote for ballot with strike option
16/03/2021
Len McCluskey: “This is an opportunist attack on our members’ pay and conditions”
Unite union members at the Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) Banbury coffee plant have voted to proceed to an industrial action ballot over the company’s proposals to change their employment contracts. The so called ‘fire and rehire’ plans could see nearly 300 workers at the factory issued notices of dismissal and engagement if the current impasse in negotiations between the management and staff remains.
Yesterday the Unite Union said its members had voted by 96 per cent in a consultative ballot to hold a full-scale industrial action ballot. This would include the option to strike.
Unite say the workers’ anger has been fuelled by the financial results from the JDE which last week reported ‘a record In-Home organic growth of 9.1% in 2020’. This increase has been augmented by the boom in coffee drinking in the UK during the year-long pandemic.
Unite’s members are also furious at the proposed changes to the company’s pension scheme which will mean the ending of the final salary system and introducing an ‘inferior’ defined contribution scheme which will be subject to the vagaries of global stock markets.
No dates are yet available for when the ballot might be held for the Ruscote Avenue workforce.
Unite national officer for the food and drink industry Joe Clarke said: “Our members have voted by an impressive 96 per cent in a consultative ballot that they wished to have a full-scale industrial action ballot, including the option to strike, over the bosses’ plans to ‘fire and rehire’ them on inferior pay and employment conditions.
“Their determination has been reinforced by the financial results of the multi-national with strong growth helped by the British public’s insatiable appetite for coffee during the pandemic – and further growth is expected in 2021.
“Therefore, there is no reason, except excessive corporate greed, why the Banbury bosses have adopted this immoral decision to adopt a ‘fire and rehire’ strategy in the midst of a global pandemic which will damage our members’ incomes and hit the wider Oxfordshire economy.
“To meet the estimated 40 per cent increase in coffee drinking during the last 12 months, the workforce at Banbury has worked flat out supplying the nation with Tassimo, Kenco and L’OR Coffee.
“Unite’s door is open 24/7 for constructive talks with the management on the plant’s future.”
In a letter of support to the workforce, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “The recent notice of fire and rehire from JDE in Banbury is a despicable attack on our hard-working key workers who have committed themselves so tirelessly throughout this Covid crisis, under extremely difficult circumstances, supplying the nation with coffee throughout the UK.
“This is an opportunist attack on our members’ pay and conditions, our members and their families have been through enough hardship over the past 12 months without having to deal with this unethical and immoral behaviour.”
It is unclear how many people took part in the ballot. A Unite spokesperson told Banbury FM: “The consultative ballot covered Unite members. As it was a consultative ballot, we are not obligated to give our voting figures/numbers.”
Rob Williams, JDE Banbury Plant Director, said: “We remain ready to meet with the union committee and continue to urge them to constructively participate in the consultation process to reach a mutual agreement that benefits both our associates and the business.”
Last week JDE told Banbury FM they had not issued notices of dismissal and re-engagement at this time. They said that only if the current collective and individual consultations are exhausted, this could be one of the outcomes.
Mr Williams said: “We appreciate that now is a difficult time for all but there is an overwhelming need for change because our UK manufacturing operations are not competitive compared to our external UK competition and internal JDE factories. This is why we are proposing changes to working practices at the factory to make sure we are in the strongest possible position to compete in the future.
“We notified our associates and the trade union of the proposals in January followed by five weeks of full-time, informal discussions. We hoped to reach mutual agreement through informal negotiations but this has not been the case. We have started the S.188 legal process which moves the negotiations into the collective consultation process with the aim of reaching mutual agreement. There is a role for everyone and the proposals do not include any redundancies within the manufacturing unit.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam