Bakery workers vote for action

PARK Cake Bakeries staff have voted to take industrial action.
About 500 union members at its Ashton Road base in Hathershaw, as well as 200 at its Bolton site, were balloted between October 3 to 14, with more than two thirds of those balloted agreeing to take industrial action in a dispute over a new contract.

Representatives from the Bakers, Food And Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) claimed last month that management brought in a new contract to get round new Government laws designed to protect agency workers.

Unions said this would create a two-tier pay system between permanent staff and new employees.

However, the company said it had consulted with the unions on the introduction of new contracts for new employees, but an agreement on the recruitment of new employees could not be reached.

A meeting has now been organised for Saturday, October 29, at the Honeywell Centre for staff to discuss what action should be taken.

A similar meeting will be held at the Bolton site on the same day.

Roy Streeter, regional officer for the BFAWU, said: “We’ve given Park Cake the result of the ballot and hopefully they will want to come back round the table.

“We notified staff yesterday and have organised the meeting on October 29 for Oldham workers to decide what sort of action to take if we are forced into a decision.

“The ballot result shows the strength of feeling among workers. Staff who get a £300 annual attendance bonus are willing to give that up, along with a day’s pay, to take a day of action.

“They are prepared to do that because they feel so strongly.”

A spokesman for Park Cake said: “The dispute was on the basis of a new contract introduced in September which enabled approximately 45 people to be recruited to the business on a new contract.

“Employees who were recruited prior to September have had their contracts unaltered.

“Less than 50 per cent of the people entitled to vote in the ballot did so, regrettably the minority who did vote secured a mandate for strike action.

“The union has to decide whether it intends to take action on the basis of the minority vote.”

Park Cake is the leading UK private-label producer of premium cakes and desserts. Its biggest customer is Marks & Spencer.