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More strike days planned ahead of JDE crunch talks
06/05/2021
Further industrial action has been planned including a 72 hour strike and a demonstration this Saturday
More days of strike action by JDE (Jacobs Douwe Egberts) staff have been announced by the Unite Union. The statement comes ahead of the planned crunch talks scheduled to be held tomorrow (May 7) in a bid to resolve the ‘fire and rehire’ dispute involving nearly 300 workers at JDE.
Members of the Unite union and JDE management, under the auspices of the conciliation service Acas, will be meeting as the union plans to ramp up strike action later this month.
Newly announced dates will see a 24 hour strike on Saturday May 15 starting at 7am and ending at 7am on 16 May; and then a 72 hour strike starting at 6am on Wednesday 26 May, running until 7am on 29 May.
The new dates follow the previously announced 24 hour strike being held for 24 hours from 7am this Saturday (May 8). A continuous overtime ban began on 1 May.
Another demonstration will be held outside JDE’s Ruscote Avenue site from 10.30am this Saturday (8 May), following last week’s protest.
Unite says it is liaising with its European trade union counterparts on offers of solidarity.
Unite national officer for the food industry Joe Clarke said: “We going into tomorrow’s talks with JDE management in a constructive frame of mind, as we believe that no coherent business case has been made for these despicable ‘fire and rehire’ proposals.
“However, if this highly profitable firm digs its heels in, we have a programme of strike action in place for this month starting with a 24 hour strike on Saturday (8 May), as well as the continuous overtime ban which began on 1 May.
“We believe that this industrial action will eventually cause severe disruption to production schedules and therefore hit the company where it hurts – on the bottom line which won’t amuse the global management.
“The community has shown great support to our members and people are horrified by the dogmatic and hardline attitude of local bosses that could be a body blow to the regional economy. Some of our members could lose between £7,000 – £12,000-a-year which may mean some of them losing their homes.”
A JDE UK spokesperson told Banbury FM: “We look forward to meeting with Unite and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) on Friday. We have clear areas of feedback from our associates to discuss on the latest proposals. We hope that we will be able to reach an agreement with Unite so that we can move forward.
“The union has notified us of a 24-hour strike on Saturday 8th May and we are obviously disappointed that some associates might choose to participate but we respect their right to make their voices heard on the proposals.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam