Twenty-four hour strike actions confirmed to run from 7am on Friday November 16^th and Monday November 19th

Billionaire owner Martin Naughton challenged on his group’s refusal to meet workers’ £8.75 Living wage pay claim

November 11th: Regional Coordinating Officer Susan Fitzgerald confirmed that two twenty-four hour strike actions would proceed at the Glen Dimplex group site in Portadown (GDC) on the Friday and Monday bracketing next weekend [Friday, November 16^th and Monday, November 19^th].

“Unite had hoped to resolve this dispute at the Labour Relations Agency yesterday but the Glen Dimplex bosses entered those talks with apparently no intention whatsoever of meeting the workers’ legitimate expectation for £8.75 an hour; which let us remember was the bare minimum for subsistence as calculated by the independent, UK-based Living Wage Foundation last year.

“Bosses are refusing to bridge the 27 pence an hour gap, despite an offer made by workers to make a contribution from the small bonus they’re paid for exceeding 100% targets. Management’s approach has left workers with no alternative but to escalate their strike action in the mouth of Christmas. We have today confirmed two, twenty-four hour stoppages next Friday  [November 16^th] and Monday [November 19^th].

“Glen Dimplex group, of which the Portadown GDC site is a part, last year reported more than €38 million in profits and provided a payment of almost €13 million to their owners through a holding company. Martin Naughton who is reported to be the ultimate owner of this highly profitable company is a billionaire who has received public accolades for his philanthropic activities while his workers have to live with the day-to-day consequences of in-work poverty.

“GDC’s greed is forcing skilled and experienced production workers, with families, with young babies at home, to stand hours on ice-cold picket lines in the fight for pay justice and to end their poverty pay predicament. The obstinate refusal of the company to meet the legitimate expectations of this workforce for a living wage is entirely unjustifiable.

“The workers need our support in this brave fight for pay decency. The challenge is now for the trade union movement and working-class people to rally behind them and ensure their success”, Ms Fitzgerald said.