Our
strike ballot has now started as members at Burton Brewery face what
can only be described
as a vicious assault.
Molson
Coors are proposing :
• Pay
for 184 of our 284 Technicians cut by £9000 per year, with the
remaining 100 becoming
"A" grade Technicians on the same salary
• Pay
for FLT cut by £8000 per year
• Site
agreement book to be destroyed and re-written by the employer
• Abolition
of site agreement that protects pay for two years when shift changes
result in loss
of pay
• 49.5%
of our 455 members facing an extreme pay cut
• Forced
introduction of extreme shift working that would leave members on
call or working
at least 95% of the time
• Threat
to sack us all if we don't agree to the proposals by June 14th
This
attack has cast a shadow across the town, as other workers and
employers watch carefully
how this will end. The branch believes that employers through out the
Midlands andthe FDT sector nationally will also be monitoring this
dispute closely.
We
are a well organised site with over 90% membership. We believe that
if we allow this to happen,
employers will believe they can do anything, anywhere.
Our
fight is every workers fight. If successful, this proposal will
depress the local economy. We are told we are paid "upper tier"
pay rates. Bring those rates down, and the averages come down for
everybody else. Most employers now use local "market rates",
and if this attack succeeds, local rates will be coming down for
everybody else - in our minds there is no doubt about that.
Our
members face losing their homes. That's how extreme these proposals
are.
A
ballot for strike action is underway, and we expect a resounding YES
vote. The ballot closes on May 28th.
Messages
of support may be sent to: Burton.Brewery@unitetheunion.org or via
#burtonbrewery on Twitter.
A
fighting fund has been established. Cheques should be made payable to
'Unite' with 'Burton Brewery' written on the back and sent to Unite
the Union, Finance Department, Transport House,9-17 Victoria Street,
West Bromwich, West Midlands, B70 8HX
Please
don't hesitate to contact me if you would like any further
information regarding the
dispute.
In
solidarity,
Phil
Salt
Branch
Secretary
