New protest looms for Unilever staff

Dec 21 2011 by Helen Hunt, Birkenhead News

New protest looms for Unilever staff

WORKERS at Unilever in Port Sunlight are heading towards another day of strike action as a bitter row over pensions rumbles on.

Shop stewards representing the workforce will attend a national joint union delegate conference on January 7 to consider whether they should repeat the national strike action which took place at 11 Unilever sites across the UK on December 9.

The meeting will discuss what response management has had to that action and to consider fixing further dates for strike action.

The row with global giant Unilever – whose products include Marmite and Dove – is over its plans to scrap the UK final salary pension scheme for its 7,000-strong workforce and move them over to a scheme based on career average earnings.

Feelings between workers and the company were further soured when their Christmas parties were scrapped and festive food hampers were taken off them in the wake of the 24 hour walk out.

George Patterson, organiser for the GMB union in the North West, said he believes further strike action is almost a certainty.

He said: “I think there’s a 99.9% possibility that we could go out. At this moment Unilever have taken a stance that their intention is to change the terms of the scheme. “There have been ongoing negotiations and the company has had every opportunity to retract what their intentions are.

“The company has made its decision and it’s a stand off.”

He said strike action was not a decision that workers were taking lightly.

If a decision is made on January 7 to strike, only seven days notice has to be given to the company in line with legislation.

Last week Unilever said the pension was a “tough but necessary choice which reflects the realities of rising life expectancy and increased market volatility”.

The firm said it would not be pressured by unions into making what it called “the wrong decision for our business”.