Unite, the UK’s largest union, started balloting its 970 driver, drayman and warehouse members at 27 sites in England, Scotland and Wales on 13 August for strike action and industrial action short of a strike. The ballot closes on 28 August 2013.
Should industrial action take place, it will hit the deliveries of such brand names as Britvic soft drinks, Heineken, Kronenbourg, Shepherd Neame and John Smith’s.
Unite national officer for the food and drinks sector Rhys McCarthy said: “In recent months, the management at KNDL has rode roughshod over the national agreement and has unilaterally started imposing changes to working conditions for our members without meaningful consultation.
“Unite’s repeated attempts to rectify these breaches have been met with intransigence by the management and, as a last resort, our members are being balloted for industrial action.
“We call on the management to enter into constructive talks with Unite immediately to restore good industrial relations by adhering to the national agreement that they signed up to.”
The sites being balloted are at: Aberdeen; Bathgate (West Lothian); Birmingham; Bristol; Chandlers Ford (Hampshire); Carlisle; Croydon; Dagenham; Devizes (Wiltshire); Dundee; Faversham (Kent); Greenford (Middlesex) and 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.
Source: Unite
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