In the event talks fail, Unite will prepare to name dates for action. Pubs and premises run by Enterprise Inns, Trust Inns, Wetherspoons, and Wells and Young’s would be badly affected.
The company also supplies airports, courts, sports clubs, including Premiership football clubs, recreational centres, theatres and cinemas, health clubs, military camps, working men’s clubs and the hospitality industry.
The issue at the centre of the dispute is the way the company has breached the ‘National Ways Agreement’, which governs the terms and conditions of the workforce. The workers believe the changes being proposed will lead to significant jobs losses.
The depots affected include: Aberdeen; Bathgate (West Lothian); Birmingham; Bristol; Chandlers Ford (Hampshire); Carlisle; Croydon; Dagenham; Devizes (Wiltshire); Dundee; Faversham (Kent); Greenford (Middlesex); Inverness; Liverpool; Manchester; Newark (Nottinghamshire); Northampton; Norwich; Plymouth; Preston; Reading; Stockton-on-Tees (Cleveland); Swansea; Wakefield; Warrington; Washington (Tyne and Wear); and Welwyn Garden City.
In a restructuring exercise called the Beethoven Project, KNDL wants to introduce three super hubs at Livingstone (West Lothian), Thatcham, near Newbury, and Wakefield from which beer, cider, lager and soft drinks will then be distributed to the above depots.
The 29 depots (those above and including Anglesey and Hereford, which will be affected by the changes, but operate on different contracts) hold a supply of stocks that they can quickly and efficiently deliver to the pubs and licensed premises in their locality.
Unite said that the downsides to this proposal include:
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