Warning of supermarket shortages as Pork Farms staff vote for strike
A warning has been issued by unions that supermarkets across the UK will face shortages of Pork Farms products after its 170 members voted for a continuous all-out pay strike at Nottingham’s Riverside Bakery.
Staff will go on strike from 28 March over a pay cut which is the Unite union say is “disguised as a rise”. It says the offer would leave staff worse off by reducing overtime, bank holiday and premium rates.
Riverside Bakery produces quiches, flans and savoury tarts sold by major retailers including Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Marks and Spencer.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is here to defend our members’ jobs, pay and conditions. Riverside Bakery’s pay cut in disguise is a direct attack on the living standards of their workforce.
“The workers’ all-out strike action will bring operations at the bakery to a halt. They will receive Unite’s full backing for as a long as it takes for the company to see sense and table a proper pay offer.”
Riverside Bakery is part of the Addo Food Group, which was bought by private equity firm PAI Partners in 2020. PAI is planning to merge Addo with another chilled food company it owns, Winterbotham Darby, to create a new company, The Compleat Food Group.
Unite Regional Officer Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Strike action and the resultant shortages of Pork Farms products in stores nationwide can still be avoided during negotiations scheduled for this week.
“For that to happen, however, the company needs to put forward an offer our members, who are struggling under the cost-of-living crisis, can accept.”
A spokesperson for The Compleat Food Group said: “After extensive talks, The Compleat Food Group made a very favourable offer of an increase to hourly rates for the colleagues at Riverside Bakery which was rejected by the Union.
“To enhance the previous offers, the final offer from the business included the fixing of overtime premiums at the 2021 rates. This was a move to further enhance hourly rates and increase differentials in advance of the forthcoming increase to the national minimum wage.”
