Hovis workforce votes overwhelmingly to accept 13.5 percent pay increase

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Unite members vote with 75 percent majority to end their dispute and accept two-year pay deal

Workers of Unite the union working at Hovis have voted by a margin of three to one to accept a significantly improved pay increase offered by their employer. The improved pay deal was offered on the eve of all-out strike action planned last week. Over two calendar years 2023 and 2024, the offer provides workers with a pay increase of 13.5 percent.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham congratulated Unite members at Hovis for their willingness to take strike action for improved pay.

“Yet again members of Unite have secured a significant improvement to their pay through their collective action. Hovis can well afford to increase the pay of their workforce; they have enjoyed huge success in recent years posting pre-tax profits of almost £50 million in 2021.

“Why should workers pay the price for the current economic crisis when it was definitely not of their making. Our members know that they have the full backing of this union when they organise to defend jobs, pay and conditions.”

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Industrial Civil Servants, including Workers in Roads Service, Rivers Agency, Forest Service and Strangford Ferry, vote overwhelmingly for strike action in pursuit of pay increase

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Unite and GMB members employed in the industrial civil service are set to coordinate action with non-industrial civil service workers in NIPSA

Strike ballot occurs alongside existing industrial dispute by roads workers seeking end to productivity pay mechanism 

Unite and the GMB have confirmed that in separate ballots of their members employed in the industrial civil service workers [which includes roads service, rivers agency and Strangford ferry] have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action in pursuit of a cost of living pay increase. In Unite the vote for strike action was passed by 91 percent while in GMB the vote for strike action was 77 percent.

Both trade unions will now engage with NIPSA which represents non-industrial civil servants, and which announced its own successful strike ballot last week, with a view to taking coordinated strike action across the entire civil service in Northern Ireland. 

Workers have been offered a pay increase of a bare £552 for the 2022-2023 tax year. For industrial civil service workers this means a nominal pay increase of between 1.65 percent and 2.3 percent for a period over which inflation spiked at more than 14 percent under the retail price index (the measure of inflation most closely approximating the rise in prices experienced by workers). The current pay offer therefore represents a real terms pay cut of approximately to 12 percent for most workers.

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Mechanical workers set to down tools on 10 March in pursuit of a cost-of-living wage increase

Posted on March 2, 2023 by unitetheunion

Over 90% vote for strike action in Leo Lynch and H.A. O’Neill

“Travel Time” restoration could mean 12.8% extra in gross pay

March 2nd: Unite, which represents workers across the economy, today (Thursday) announced that plumbers, pipefitters and welders in two major companies have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action in pursuit of a claim for restoration of the first hour of “Travel Time”.  These grades working for Leo Lynch and H.A. O’Neill (Jones Engineering) voted by over 90% to take action following the ongoing failure to restore the first hour of “Travel Time”, which was originally cut as a so-called ‘temporary measure’ following the 2008 financial crash.  Workers at Leo Lynch and H.A. O’Neill will take strike action on 10 March.

Mechanical workers in the sector still have not seen their pay rates return to pre-crisis levels. Restoration of the first hour of “Travel Time” would mean an increase of up to 12.8% in gross pay at a time when workers continue to be hit by the cost-of-living crisis.  Unite members working for other mechanical employers are also being balloted for industrial action in pursuit of travel time.

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Hovis strike action due at end of week suspended after management make improved offer in negotiations

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Strike action planned by workers at Hovis’ Belfast plant which was scheduled to commence at 6am on Sunday March 5th has been suspended following a last minute improved pay offer being made by management in negotiations. Unite the union had warned that the strike action was likely to have impacted bread supplies across Northern Ireland.

Unite has confirmed that it has moved to suspend its planned action for seven days while it ballots its members on the improved offer. If they vote to reject the deal, continuous strike action is now scheduled to commence from the morning of Sunday March 12th.

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Hovis workforce votes overwhelmingly for industrial action in pursuit of cost of living pay increase

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Unite the union NI

Unite confirms all out strike action will commence at Belfast Bakery from 6am on Sunday 5th March

Union warns strike is likely to impact bread supplies on shelves across Northern Ireland

Workers of Unite the union have voted by a margin of more than 95 percent for strike action in pursuit of a cost of living pay increase at Hovis, the leading Belfast Bakery. Unite has notified the employer that continuous (that is all-out) strike action will commence this Sunday 5th March with strike pickets going up at the Bakery at 6am that morning.

While workers have watched their disposable incomes collapse with the surge in inflation, Hovis has enjoyed bumper sales during the Covid pandemic and in its aftermath. Turnover rose 8 percent in 2020 and rose marginally further in 2021 to £361.2 million. The company has managed to maintain profitability throughout and its profits for 2021 have been boosted through what they deemed a ‘bargain purchase’ of assets which raised the group’s headline (pre-tax) profits for the 14 months to the end of 2021 to £47.3 million.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham expressed her union’s support for the Hovis workers as they prepare to take strike action:

“Hovis has enjoyed huge success during the Covid pandemic and in the period following it. The group posted pre-tax profits of almost £50 million in 2021 and is a well-funded business with a strong balance sheet. The company can well afford to increase the pay of these workers to provide some protection from the surge in inflation.

“Unite has established a £70 million strike fund which we are deploying to back workers in struggle. The workforce in Hovis know that Unite has their back as they seek to win a cost of living increase from their employer.”

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