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17 June, 2014Workers at two sites of the UK company Tyneside Safety Glass are on strike this week over ‘a paltry and insulting’ pay offer.
About 112 employees at Tyneside Safety Glass started their seven days of strike action on 16 June. The strike is from 05.00 to 19.00 each day and also includes a continuous overtime ban.
IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Unite, said that the company could afford to be more generous, especially as it awarded the highest paid director a 14 per cent pay rise last year, and shifted £750,000 from the company’s account to the owner’s trust fund.
The company, who makes makes laminated glass for bus windows and windscreens, had offered a three-year deal; three per cent in the first year, and then two per cent in the two subsequent years. Unite said this deal had strings attached to make the deal self-funding.
Unite regional officer Fazia Hussain-Brown says:
“Our members rejected the paltry and insulting ‘strings attached’ deal by more than 90 per cent as the company was giving with one hand and taking with the other. Our hardworking members and their families are faced with the continuing cost of living crisis, with household bills going through the roof and they deserve a more generous pay deal."
"The management’s plea of poverty does not ring true and we urge them to get around the table urgently to negotiate a fair and equable settlement, so our members can continue to contribute to the prosperity of the company."