Bakkavor Pizza in Harrow who is a supplier to well-known
supermarket chains that includes Sainsburys and Waitrose faces
severe disruption to supplies after months of negotiations on pay
ends with GMB members' rejection of a 5.9 per cent pay deal.
Bakkavor Pizza’s predominately female workforce from ethnic Asian
communities say it is time they had a decent pay rise.
Last week, GMB members working for Bakkavor Pizza took part in an
indicative strike ballot with 78 per cent of members rejecting
the pay offer. GMB will now take formal steps for a strike ballot
that could mean pizza supplies will be severely disrupted for
some of the high street’s popular supermarkets.
One Bakkavor GMB member said:
“Bakkavor is advertising for evening shift staff at its Newark
site, where the starting salary there is £12.07 an hour with free
transport, the equivalent role at Bakkavor Pizza pays £11.14, and
that includes a shift allowance.
“The London Living Wage is £11.95, but with the cost of living
like it is we cannot accept the offer of 5.9 per cent, our pay
claim is for 13.4 per cent, that is what we want. Many of us
relied on overtime but since the introduction of faster automated
production, the opportunity for overtime that helped boost our
pay is rare."
Trevlyn McLeod, GMB London Region Organiser
said:
“The Bakkavor Group reported an operating profit of
£46.3m in its half-year report published on
6thSeptember, so GMB can see no reason why Bakkavor
will not offer our members a decent pay increase. It’s not a good
look for a large wealthy organisation to have some workers forced
to turn to food banks because their rate of pay doesn’t cover
their basic living cost.
“This decision for a GMB mandate for industrial action has not
been taken lightly or without consideration by our members, they
are determined to give Bakkavor the message that they want a
better deal. Workers here believe they are worth more, they want
their voices heard and that is why our membership numbers are
increasing daily.
"Now that GMB has secured a strong mandate for Industrial action,
it is hoped that Bakkavour Pizza at Harrow will finally recognise
the value of their staff and how they have been impacted by the
cost of living crisis and put forward an improved pay offer."
