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A months-long strike at a Bakkavor factory is set to end on 14 March after a pay deal was agreed between the UK private-label business and the trade union Unite.
Unite confirmed that the remaining staff on strike at the food maker’s Spalding plant in east England will return to work following a revised and improved pay offer.
In January, Unite had filed a “formal complaint” to the Ethical Trading Initiative on behalf of striking workers at Bakkavor.
Staff at the ready-meals and salads maker have been on strike since September in a dispute over pay.
"Following an improved offer from Bakkavor, our members were balloted and voted to accept the offer and return to work after a lengthy period of industrial action,” Sam Hennessey, Unite’s regional officer, said in a statement.
"Unite will continue to campaign for improved terms and conditions for all workers across the food and drink manufacturing sector where low pay causes financial hardship for thousands across Lincolnshire."
Unite said that the accepted offer represented a pay increase of 6.4% to 7.8% across various pay grades for employees, plus a “discretionary” bonus of £350 ($452) per person.
That was an improvement on the across-the-board 6% pay offer rejected by Spalding staff in May, but the same as what workers had previously been offered.
"The legal protection they [workers] had for industrial action was due to expire on 14th March which meant they could have been sacked for taking further strike action," Unite confirmed with Just Food.
In December, it emerged some staff had accepted a pay offer from Bakkavor and returned to work.
Bakkavor said in a statement: “We are delighted that this draws an end to a very difficult time for all colleagues at Spalding. We would like to once again thank our colleagues and customers for their support during this period.”
“We are pleased that Unite the Union has called an end to its strike action in Spalding with its union’s members now accepting the final offer we put forward to them in October 2024.”
Bakkavor is a major supplier to Tesco and Waitrose.
The company’s revenue rose 4% to £2.29bn last year. Operating profit dropped by 3.8% to £93.4m but net income rose 3.3% to £55.7m.
"Workers to end strike at Bakkavor site after pay deal" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.
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