WORKERS who produce the Weetabix breakfast cereal are to strike after the company tried to impose £5,000 of wage cuts using notorious fire-and-rehire tactics against employees.

Engineers at the company’s factories at Kettering and Corby in Northamptonshire will launch a series of 48-hour strikes from Tuesday September 21 to Tuesday November 30.

The workers are members of Unite the union, which says the strikes will cause widespread delays to production and shortages in shops.

Weetabix has been accused of attempting to introduce new contracts, which include changes to shift and working patterns, which will cost workers up to £5,000 a year.

The workers will first be sacked and then rehired on the new contracts, which Unite says are vastly inferior.

In addition to Weetabix, the company produces cereals Alpen, Weetos and Oatbix.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The idea of fire and rehire is abhorrent to me.

“If Weetabix decide to go down this route and they overstep the line then I will absolutely defend our members.”

Strike action was originally scheduled for June but was postponed to allow for talks followed by a new proposal, rejected by 82 per cent of the workers.

Unite says Weetabix has increased its profits by 18.5 per cent since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

Unite regional officer Sean Kettle said: “Unite has made it clear from the outset that our members will not accept being fired and rehired, with large cuts to their pay and conditions.

“Industrial action can still be avoided but it will require Weetabix to withdraw its plans to fire and rehire its engineers and to put forward a realistic offer to our members.”

Members of food and retail union Usdaw are also involved in industrial action against fire-and-rehire tactics at the Kettering site.

The TUC has reported that 2.3 million workers are being targeted for fire and rehire by employers.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the practice, but has ignored calls for it to be outlawed through legislation.

A recent Survation poll for Unite found that seven in 10 people want the practice banned.