Princes digs in over pay dispute with Unite union members

Princes Group range

The new Italian owners of Liverpool headquartered food business Princes has admitted that it is in a “difficult” pay dispute with members of Unite the Union (Unite) across its UK manufacturing sites.

Angelo Mastrolia, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Princes has today gone public on his disappointment with Unite’s approach and called for a resolution that supports its employees and ensures the long-term stability of the business.

He says a 3% pay increase for 2024 is “fair and reasonable” despite the “extremely challenging market conditions” currently prevailing in the UK and Europe.

Angelo Mastrolia

Mastrolia added: “It has become increasingly clear that resolving this dispute with Unite is becoming more difficult. We have engaged in discussions with the Union for several months, proposing an above-inflation pay rise and offering to backdate this to April 2024 during the negotiations. However, Unite has informed us that they would not permit the company to proceed in this manner.”

Princes Foods make dozens of household name products, such as Branston and Crosse & Blackwell, as well as their own brand tins and jars of meat and fish.

Princes, which is based in the city’s Royal Liver Building, was acquired for £700m by Italian-based Newlat Food and renamed New Princes Group, with the aim to achieve revenues of €5bn by 2030.

Last Thursday (2 January 2025) Unite escalated the dispute at Princes Food after it claims the company “failed to come back to the negotiating table with an improved offer after Christmas.”

Industrial action has already taken place at the company’s Cardiff factory but strikes at factories across the country will see hundreds of Unite members head to the picket line in January.

The union said the strikes are likely to lead to shortages in supermarkets and shops across the country, a claim Princes denied.

Unite members are taking industrial action after they claim previous pay offers made by previous owners Mitsubishi were revoked after Italian based multinational Newlat took over the business last year. Instead, it is offering just a three per cent pay rise.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Newlat need to get back round the negotiating table before its customers discover they won’t have any products on their shelves. Our members work in back-breaking roles on low pay and want a fair slice of the pie.

“Newlat make 20 per cent of all their revenues in the UK and are making money off the backs of these workers. Yet they want to shortchange our members. Unite won’t stand for such behaviour and back our members 100 per cent.”

Unite national officer for food, drink and agriculture, Paul Travers, said: “Newlat borrowed huge sums of money to buy Princes and is now looking to cut corners and penny pinch to pay that money back. Unite won’t let them do so with our members’ livelihoods.

“Newlat can avoid this strike, which is one of their own making, by coming back to the negotiating table with a new and improved pay deal for our members.”

However, in a fractious exchange of statements, Princes hit back at claims of significant disruption to the UK’s food supply, and said all affected sites have contingency plans in place and maintain adequate stock levels as a standard practice.

Angelo Mastrolia added: “The Board of Directors of Princes and I fully understand our responsibility to care for our colleagues, but we have an equal obligation to ensure the long-term sustainability of Princes by focusing on cost management and being a competitive supplier in the UK’s food and beverage sector.”

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