Right to Strike: Unite vows that High Court ruling will not silence workers fighting for fair pay

Posted on March 23, 2023 by unitetheunion

Unite examining all options including appeal

Union determined to secure pay increase for mechanical workers

23 March: Trade union Unite, which represents workers throughout Ireland, stated today (Thursday) that it is considering an appeal of this morning’s High Court ruling granting mechanical engineering firm Jones Engineering (HA O’Neil) an injunction pending trial to prevent strike action proceeding on 31 March. 

Commenting in the wake of today’s High Court ruling, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:  “This totally unacceptable and highly questionable ruling looks like an attempt to prevent workers in Ireland from taking industrial action in pursuit of legitimate aims. But the High Court will not succeed in silencing workers fighting for fair pay.

“Unite is examining all options for an appeal, up to and including the European courts, and we stand ready to defend our members against any and all attacks.”

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Unite blasts disgraceful Kingspan strikebreaking in effort to avoid fair pay

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Union escalates to round-the-clock pickets at Portadown site to defeat company greed

English workers get four star treatment while Polish workers left with hostels

Unite the union can reveal that Ulster Rugby sponsor Kingspan is flying in strikebreakers in a `disgraceful’ effort to undermine workers taking strike action for fair pay.

Workers from Kingspan sites in Williton in Somerset, England and Rokietnica in Poland have been flown over in recent weeks and are now being used in an attempt to continue production onsite.

In a further shocking development, Unite understands that while the English staff have been put up at the four-star Seagoe hotel in Portadown, the Polish workers are currently staying at a hostel in the Portadown area.

In 2022, materials business Kingspan recorded an 8.4 per cent jump in pre-tax profits of £657 million.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham blasted Kingspan’s actions, saying: “Kingspan’s disgraceful efforts to deny Portadown workers a far wage will not succeed.   This is another appalling case of greed by a business that can well afford to pay this workforce fairly.  Unite is determined to do everything in our power support our members until they do exactly that.”

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NI childcare crisis: Chris Heaton-Harris must ensure Budget delivers for children, parents and childminders

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Ratio reform overdue as childminders flee sector

Unite seeking urgent meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Trade union Unite, which organises Registered Childminders throughout Northern Ireland, is seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, to clarify which elements, if any, of the additional childcare funding announced in last week’s Budget have been earmarked for Northern Ireland. 

Speaking today (Monday 20 March), Unite’s Susan Fitzgerald said that working parents and women working as childminders are facing a growing childcare crisis. 

Unite’s RCM members care for children in their own homes, providing a vital child-centred service to working parents.  Yet the predominantly women workers providing that service, and the working parents who depend on it, are facing a crisis, with seven in 10 childminders considering leaving the sector due to difficulty making ends meet.  Unite’s RCM Branch has argued that the most effective and sustainable way to address this crisis is to reform the current child-to-childminder ratios.

Commenting, Susan Fitzgerald said:

“Parents working outside the home depend on other workers – predominantly women – caring for children inside their own home.  Yet public policy is failing both sets of workers.

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Portadown workers resolute on pickets at Kingspan Water & Energy

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Unite slams company for piling money into shareholders’ pockets but denying workers their bonus and fair pay

All-out strike action follows big rejection of inadequate eve of strike offer

Unite the union members at Kingspan Water & Energy Ltd have commenced all-out strike action today [Monday, 20 March 2023]. Pickets went up at the company’s Portadown site from 6am. The strike is severely impacting production at the factory which employs 200 and which manufacturers fuel and water tanks.

The industrial action follows an overwhelming 99 per cent vote for strike action and 65 per cent rejection of an inadequate eve of strike offer from management which fell well short of Unite members’ demands for a cost of living pay increase.

The Portadown workers are also angry that they have been excluded from a £1,000 cost of living payment that was provided to all other Kingspan Water & Energy employees.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham expressed her support for the striking workers:  “The Kingspan workers can count on the full support of their union, Unite, as they strike to win the pay increase and bonus they deserve. 

“It is our members’ hard work which delivers Kingspan’s huge profits so it is only fair they get their slice of the pie.  Kingspan can well afford to provide their employees with a cost of living pay increase and they should do exactly that.”

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Kingspan workforce at Portadown to commence all out strike action for cost of living pay increase

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Industrial action follows 99 percent vote for strike action on 91 percent turnout

Workers unanimously reject ‘eve-of-strike’ offer providing only 5 percent consolidated pay increase

Unite the union has confirmed that its membership at Kingspan Water & Energy Ltd will be taking strike action on Monday [20 March 2023]. Pickets will be due to go up outside the company’s Portadown site which manufacturers fuel and water tanks from 6am. The strike will severely impact production at the factory which employs 200 and pickets are likely to impact traffic flow on the Gilford Road.

The industrial action follows a ballot of Unite’s membership on the shopfloor which returned a 99 percent mandate for strike with a 91 percent turnout. Workers voted unanimously in mass meetings over the last two days to reject an eve of strike offer from management.

Workers at the Portadown factory have been angered by the fact that they were denied a £1,000 cost of living payment provided to all other Kingspan Water & Energy employees. The offer made by management included a £750 one-off payment and adjustments to bonus – but the consolidated increase to basic pay was only 5 percent. 

The Kingspan group is hugely profitable. In 2022, the company’s revenue increased by 28% to £7.3 billion translating into a trading profit of £733 million, a figure 10 percent higher than the previous year. The company rewarded its shareholders with a dividend of £2.89 on every share last year – a jump of over 8 percent.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham challenged the company to provide a cost of living pay increase to its workforce.

“Kingspan is a hugely successful business with a trading profit of more than £730 million last year. They can afford a huge payout to shareholders but deny a cost of living pay increase to their workers – the source of their profits.

“What they are currently offering their workers is effectively an 8 percent pay cut in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in decades. This is totally unacceptable. The Kingspan workforce in Portadown can count on the full support of Unite and our £60 million strike fund in their fight for a cost of living pay increase.” 

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