Squeezed out workers go on strike

Hundreds of Unite members, workers for the juice giant Refresco Gerber, are set to initiate a series of actions next Tuesday (January 27), after their employer has run roughshod over their pay, terms and conditions.

 
Refresco Gerber, which produces supermarket brand products for stores such as Waitrose, Asda and Tesco, and works with established juice brands such as Ocean Spray and Innocent, has refused to fully negotiate new shift patterns.

 
The company has also forced cuts to overtime and holiday pay, as well as imposing reductions in holiday entitlements.
“Loyal staff who have worked hard to make Refresco Gerber Europe’s biggest juice manufacturer feel betrayed by plans to railroad through cuts to their pay, terms and conditions,” said Unite regional officer Roy Winter.

 
“They are angry that their modest working conditions are being torn up in a bid to squeeze every last drop of profit out of them,” he added. “This further attack on their terms and conditions will deepen the daily struggle to make ends meet that a majority of the workforce face.

 
“The race to the bottom needs to stop,” Winter went on to say. “The company needs to drop its refusal to negotiate and enter into meaningful talks to avoid the inevitable disruption that prolonged strike action will have on the supply of well-loved household brands.”

 
Over 400 striking workers, who are production operators, engineers and warehouse workers, have planned a series of eleven 36-hour strikes to take place over 10 weeks.

 
Stay tuned on UNITElive for the latest on the planned stoppages.