3000 staff at Unilever set for strike

Nearly 3,000 Unilever workers will go on strike for the first time ever tomorrow in protest at an "unfair attack on their pensions."

The co-ordinated 24-hour strike by members of, GMB and other unions brings together a powerful alliance against bosses and their plans to ruin employees' pensions.

George Patterson GMB Regional Organiser said

"After the initial one day's strike in December, the GMB Union were disappointed the company never took the opportunity to try to resolve the dispute.  We thought the company would at least have tried to get back around the table to discuss the issue. We thought the company would even suggest the involvement of ACAS to intervene and try to find some sort of resolution".

"As the Company have tried to trivialise the dispute, this has added to the members resolve to the point where, at a recent all Unions meeting in Liverpool on Saturday 7th January, it was decided to increase the action, in both Days of action and the frequency of strikes, hence this forthcoming Dispute is a 48Hr strike from Wednesday 18th to Friday 20th".

Pickets will be mounted from 7am at Purfleet, Port Sunlight, Warrington, Leeds, Crumlin, Gloucester, Manchester, Burton-on-Trent and Chester. Unions accused the company of wanting to axe the final-salary pension scheme, which will see the retirement income of thousands of staff slashed by up to 40 per cent. Unilever had promised it would keep the scheme open for existing members after it closed it to new entrants in 2008. Yet the company is planning to scrap the scheme and dump all of its workers onto an inferior career-average one from July 1 next year.

Unilever produces such household names as PG Tips, Marmite and Dove soap.

"Unions are demanding that Unilever reconsiders its plans." GMB national officer Allan Black added:

"This strike action demonstrates that pensions are not just a matter of concern for public-sector workers. The concerns are shared by workers in private-sector companies like Unilever too."