Unilever – Further Strike Date
Friday 6th January 2012
UNILEVER WORKERS TO STAGE
DEMONSTRATION ON TUESDAY 10TH JAN AT UNILEVER HOUSE
LONDON OVER CLOSURE OF FINAL SALARY PENSION FUND
GMB shop stewards to attend national
delegate conference for Unilever workers on January 7th
2012 in Liverpool to consider further strike action at 11 Unilever
sites in dispute over pensions
Workers from 11 Unilever sites will stage a
demonstration outside Unilever House in London on Tuesday
10th January 2012 over the closure of the final salary
pension scheme.
There is also a joint union delegate
conference with representatives from all 11 Unilever sites in
Liverpool tomorrow (Jan 7th). The purpose of the meeting
is to consider the lack of response from the company to the
strike action that took place on Friday 9th December.
The meeting will also fix further days of strike action since there
has been no movement from the company on the dispute about
pensions. GMB shop stewards from Unilever at Warrington in Cheshire
and Norwich in Norfolk will attend.
The details for protest demonstration are as
follows:
From 10am
Tuesday,
10th
January 2012,
Outside Unilever
House,
100 Victoria
Embankment,
Blackfriars,
London
EC4Y 0DY
GMB members employed by Unilever at Warrington
in Cheshire and Norwich in Norfolk took part in a one day national
strike at eleven sites on Friday 9th December over the
closure of the final salary pension scheme to existing
employees.
The action on December 9th was the first day
of industrial action following a majority of three to
one for strike action over the company plans to close the company
final salary scheme to existing employees for 1st
January 2012.
This change affects 5,000 Unilever staff at
the two locations above and at Purfleet, Port Sunlight, Gloucester,
Manchester, Leeds, Burton on Trent, Crumlin in Wales, Bedfordshire
and Leatherhead in Surrey. Unilever closed the scheme to new
entrants in 2008. Employees at the other nine sites who are members
of Unite or Usdaw also voted for strike action and the three unions
are acting in concert.
Allan Black GMB National Officer said,
“The protest and the joint delegate conference will step up
of the pressure from the workforce for sensible negotiations with
Unilever on pensions.
The meeting on January 7th
will consider the lack of a response from Unilever to the strike
action that took place last month. The meeting will also fix
further dates for strike action since there has been no movement
from the company.
Strike action at Unilever demonstrates
that pensions are not just a matter of concern for public sector
workers. The concerns are shared by workers in private sector
employers like Unilever too. The action also shows that
ordinary workers will not stand idly by to watch profitable
employers like Unilever jumping on the pension’s robbery
bandwagon.
It should be a shared aim of the main
political parties, employers, workers and their unions that
adequate savings are put aside, while employees are in work, to
provide a decent income for them when retired. Adequate savings
rates were once a by word for responsible capitalism. Workers
having to strike to protect adequate savings rates shows how
anarchic contemporary capitalism has become. Employers and
politician may favour this anarchy but workers and their families
will never accept it.”
End
Contact: Allan Black, GMB
National Officer 07725 100 316, Ivan Mercer, GMB Organiser in
Norwich on 01603 626 492 or 07713 077 194 or George Patterson
Warrington GMB Organiser on in the North West on 07974
018405.