BFAWU Members to Strike at Hovis Belfast!

Following pay talks with Hovis LTD, members of the Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union voted overwhelmingly in support of all out strike action, due to commence at 12.01am on Friday 24th January 2020.

Over a series of meetings the company have failed to meet the demands of our members and tabled percentage offer’s that fall short of workers expectations. Within this site, like many others, workers are on consolidated rates of pay that include various components, such as overtime rates, statutory holidays and shift allowances however year on year since the inception of the consolidated rate at this site, low pay awards and pay freezes have seen the erosion of the consolidated rate so that workers now face an hourly rate of pay that, we believe, no longer includes the components that initially built up the rate of pay.

The most recent offer by the company of 3.2% is totally unacceptable to our members.

We are seeing a trend that will mean by the time the National Minimum Wage, or the Tory “living wage” as its ridiculously referred to, catch up with rates of pay that are supposedly enhanced, workers will have completely lost the additional benefits trade unions fought long and hard for over many years. We feel its time to reinstate overtime premiums, statutory holidays, shift allowances and any other Terms and Conditions that employers have clawed away over the years for their own gain.

Workers in Hovis are prepared to stand up and fight in order for the company to recognise that the consolidated rate is no longer working and no longer accepted by employees.

In Solidarity

Laura Graham
Regional Officer
BFAWU NI