It might be time to break “picky mauris” and the party gnaws this Christ amid fears of further shortages of cheese and chive dip, soup and pasta sauces after hundreds of workers at the food production site decided to strike for three months of further action.
Industrial activity at Spalding in the Bakkavor plant, which involves large amounts of saturated fat; hit supplies taramasalata in supermarkets a month. As the strike enters its third month, there are now gaps in stocks at Waitrose, Tesco and Marks & Spencer as action on cheese & chive dip and other productions is affected.
About 800 of the 1,400 employees in the Lincoln area are members Unite The union, after three months of action, decided to demand more than a 10p hourly premium to the legal minimum wage of £11.44 for 21s, which they currently earn.
Join secretary general Sharon Graham said: “Bakkavor is an incredibly wealthy company with a top executive on a two million plus salary. It can fully afford to pay its employees a fair wage increase.
“Our members showed incredible courage and remained steadfast in the campaign and fighting until Bakkavor regained their composure and presented themselves beautifully. In the meantime, Unite will pursue every avenue in the UK or abroad to negotiate a fair wage.
The company said it had moved taramasalata production to one of its other factories to return to the shelves, and that only one product, a low-fat cheese & dip, had stopped production altogether. However, it is understood that a lower than usual supply of products with dipping, dipping and pasta sauces made by Bakkavor continues to be available in some supermarkets.
Tesco is understood to be stocking a range of products including cheddar cheese & chive dip, reduced fat sour cream & chive dip, whipped feta with mint from its best range, carbonara sauce and chicken and vegetable soup.
It is understood that Marks & Spencer is short of one product from what is commonly known as its picky tea selection – a collection of quickly assembled lunch or dinner food items – and that reduced fat sour cream & leek dip.
The waitress said she was running out of her label taramasalata, four cheese dressing and beet & feta salad.
A Waitrose spokesman said: “We work with many suppliers, we still have a wide range of products on offer. We are really sorry if some products are not available at the moment – our associates are always happy to help customers find alternatives.
Bakkavor said the majority of his Spalding employees – about 950 staff – are reporting to work as usual.
He said the contingency had implemented plans to reduce disruption and “strong plans to deliver our Christmas delivery across 21 UK sites”.
Post Newsletter promotion
He said his better pay offer was a 7.8% increase for the lowest-paid workers and 6.4% for all other grades as well as a one-off bonus of £350 a man.
Donna-Maria Lee, chief people officer in Bakkavor, said: “We are very disappointed that the union has recommended that its members refuse to pay the deal.”
He said the pay rise was offered to workers on a special basis and that more than 700 staff had received it, including some strikers who had already returned to work.
Bakkavor added that there had been inflation in Spalding’s prize money over the past three years.