Strike at Dukinfield's Tesco Supplier

Workers at the Tulip Fresh Meats plant at Dukinfield, Cheshire, who have been in dispute with the company for the past three weeks, are stepping up their action in a long running argument over bonus payments.  The 27 workers in the cutting department who have been on strike two days a week since 6 September will, from next Wednesday, 26 September, go on strike for 5 days. At the end of the five days a decision may be taken to escalate the strike further. An overtime ban has also been in place for the last three weeks.  At the same time over 100 other workers at Tulip who currently receive no additional payment for working Bank Holidays, or in some cases bonus, are to be balloted on industrial action. The result of their ballot will be known on 3 October. 

Earlier this year the 27 staff in the cutting department, who are all members of Community trade union, unanimously rejected a proposal from the company to change the bonus scheme on the grounds that it still failed to address the unfairness where workers on the same rate receive different bonus payments and some skilled workers get less than unskilled. In some cases the company's revised scheme would have resulted in pay cuts of up to £3000 a year. Bonus rates at Tulip have remained unchanged for the past eight years and many workers are now struggling to make ends meet.

Tulip Fresh Meats are major suppliers of food products to the retail and food service markets in the UK, including major supermarkets like Tesco.   

Chris Ambrose, Campaign Manager for Community, said today:
' Despite all our efforts to find a solution to this dispute, including inviting ACAS to get involved, the company have stubbornly refused to budge on anything. Our members are now more determined than ever to see this dispute through to the end, however long it takes, until they get their grievances resolved.'

For further information contact:
Paul Talbot:  07768 693936.

Chris Ambrose:  07834 745808