Conrad LandinThis is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
BRITAIN’S largest pork processing firm must thrash out a union recognition agreement in the next few weeks, following a ruling from state arbitrators.
The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union told the Central Arbitration Committee that bosses at meat giant Tulip had been spreading “scare stories” about the consequences of union recognition among the largely east European workforce.
In evidence submitted to the committee, management said it “did not consider that a majority of the workers in the bargaining unit were likely to support recognition” and that workers “did not understand the implications of collective bargaining,” according to a report on the decision to accept the BFAWU application.
The union had sought recognition of a collective bargaining unit for workers involved in tasks including curing, cutting, dispatch and hygiene at the company’s site in Coalville, Leicestershire.
The committee said there was no need for a ballot to be held before enforcing recognition, as it had seen sufficient evidence that most workers were members of the union.
Corroboration of staff lists and union membership lists supplied confidentially to the committee showed that 105 of the 185 workers in the relevant grades were union members, amounting to 56.8 per cent of the workforce.
A previous attempt by Unite to seek recognition in 2009 was unsuccessful.
BFAWU regional officer George Atwall told the Star: “People wanted a union, but they were pressured by the company.
“This has been one of our most successful campaigns. We’re a small union, we haven’t got the facilities like a big union, but we’ll still be putting out the campaign until the company sits down and draws up the recognition agreements.”
