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22 February, 2012
Over 140 paper packaging workers have been taking strike actions against the Austrian company Mayr-Melnhof at a food packaging plant in Bootle, near Liverpool. The industrial actions, which began 12 days ago, revolve around management’s stubbornness over redundancy terms.
UK’s Unite the Union is leading the strike actions, which last weekend, 18-19 February, took a different turn when management locked workers out of the factory. The purpose evidently was so managers could move products and equipment to another plant. Workers responded to the lockout with a blockade, and demanded to meet with management. Those talks commenced earlier this week.
The Vienna-based company had sought paring 49 staff at the 180-worker factory, but the union agreed to significant changes to terms and conditions to reduce the redundancy count to 37.
But talks broke down and workers voted for strike action in a ballot counted on 3 February. Mayr-Melnhof refused to lower the number and became miserly in awarding proper social terms and conditions.
Unite has called it “switch strikes.” Workers first took strike action at midnight on 9 February, and then again the following week on 13 and 15 February, with weekend plant-gate demonstrations in between. Those were six-hour rotating strikes from 06h to noon, and then from noon to 18h. Workers were planning further actions last weekend when they faced the lockout.
“This is not the action our members wanted to take, but they felt they had no alternative,” said Unite Regional Officer Phil Morgan. “The redundancy terms on the able are significantly inferior to terms negotiated on previous occasions.” The company had previously laid off about 50 workers and the reduced severance packages this time induced none of the workforce to apply for voluntary redundancy.
Mayr-Melnhof makes several kinds of food packaging at Bottle ranging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to packaging for pet food. The firm operates another UK facility in Deeside, North Wales.