Existing pay offer from management is blasted as an insult to lowly-paid workers

Sean McKeever, Regional Officer, confirmed his union was proceeding to ballot its members in Allied Bakeries after the latest management pay offer was rejected by the workforce negotiating team.

Allied Bakeries, with a manufacturing base on the Castlereagh Road Belfast, is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc – a major international business with a turnover of £12.3bn and close to 130,000 employees working in 50 countries. The company produces Sunblest, Kingsmill, Burgen and Allison breads.

“I can confirm that Unite is proceeding to ballot our members working at Allied Bakeries in Belfast on strike action after the latest management pay offer was rejected by the workforce negotiating team.

“Bosses offered the workers a 2.2 percent pay increase which is barely enough to keep pace with the current rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index – the true measure of inflation experienced by workers. In reality this pay offer represents a real-terms pay stagnation for workers who continue to produce a significant profit for this company.

“Allied Bakeries workers work very hard and long to make a living as their basic wage is so low. Once you strip out shift premiums, overtime and bonuses, the basic rate of pay is actually significantly less than the current minimum wage threshold. This situation is untenable and is putting huge pressures on these workers. Against that context, the current pay offer is an insult to Allied Bakeries’ workers.

“Unite members working in the Food & Drink sector are not going to be left behind when it comes to fair pay. The strike ballot opens tomorrow [Friday, January 31^st] and if it is successful, we envisage that strike action will be likely to commence in the second week of February”, Mr McKeever concluded.