Almost 100 workers from a North East chemical company have taken action to strike after pay cuts and allegations that leaders had cancelled Christmas holidays.
Workers at Thomas Swan in Consett started strike action from 6am this morning (Wednesday, November 30) after a real terms pay cut.
As part of GMB union, workers said they were open to negotiations but overwhelmingly rejected a 5.1 per cent pay rise.
Site leaders have been dubbed as “Grinch bosses” after allegedly cancelling Christmas holidays for workers, something Andy Blunt, GMB regional organiser, said was an “attack on unions.”
He added: “With the pay cuts and the holidays being cancelled, there’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of mistrust, a lot of mistrust right from the start when they were saying there’s no profit in the company.
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“Now they are at the point of cancelling the holidays and pretending that it’s for anything else but attacking the trade unions.”
Asked what the best outcome from today would be, Mr Blunt, said they wanted to get the employer “back around the negotiating table.”
He said: “The best result today would be to get the employer back round to the negotiating table with an improved offer and realistic offer that helps our members with the cost of living.”
Laura Maghan, GMB regional organiser, stressed that workers had worked all through the pandemic.
She said: “Bearing in mind that our members worked tirelessly through the pandemic, they weren’t furloughed and they made hand sanitiser for the local community.
“Now when they’re in need and when they need help the most with the cost of living crisis the company has turned their backs.
“Now, when members stand up for themselves, the company start attacking them and taking away pre-booked holidays at Christmas time.”
Throughout the morning, several cars would pip their horns when passing by, and Ms Maghan said the support from local people had been “great.”
She added: “The support has been great, especially from the local people in Consett, especially when holidays were cancelled, these people were from Consett.
“They had family and friends and they supported people in Consett, especially during the pandemic.
“The support has been amazing, especially for the local community in terms of people and businesses.”
Harry Swan, CEO of Thomas Swan, said: "We fully understand and appreciate the financial difficulties facing our employees due to the cost-of-living crisis.
"However, because of the tough economic climate, the Company is severely limited in terms of the level of pay increase it can afford.
"Like many companies in the UK, we have faced record increases in our energy costs and raw material prices over the last 6 months.
"Our energy costs in the first half of this financial year have been £1.3M, which is £800K more than the same period last year.
"This means the business has made a small year-todate loss, despite price rises being passed on to customers wherever possible.
"All our employees will be able to take their usual holidays over the Company’s annual Christmas and New Year shutdown, which will not be affected by the ongoing dispute with the GMB.
"Following the GMB’s decision to ban overtime as part of the planned industrial action, the Company was forced to review some holiday entitlement during December where these holidays were due to be covered by overtime working.
"At no point has the Company cancelled any Christmas holiday entitlement. We continue to believe that a resolution to the current dispute can still be achieved through constructive dialogue.
"We remain hopeful that a fair and reasonable outcome for all those involved can be reached in the very near future."
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