Hundreds of striking workers at Bakkavor in Spalding have been recommended to refuse a latest pay offer as their absence was blamed on a national shortage of taramasalata.
Unite the Union met representatives from the firm last week, where workers were presented with a new offer which includes a £350 bonus.
A staff vote on the proposal has been launched and is running until Thursday, November 14.
Unite has recommended workers reject the offer, claiming the it is ‘the bare minimum’ ahead of the national minimum wage rising to £12.21 next May, and called the bonus ‘offensive’ saying it would amount to £6.73 a week after tax.
A Unite spokesman said: “Last Monday, we agreed with the company to remain neutral throughout this process, but the site management has completely disregarded this commitment, choosing instead to actively spread fear and false allegations with no evidence among staff in briefings.
“We are calling on workers to stand together and reject this offer.
“The site managements refusal to allow honest, two-way communication with members, their disregard for our neutrality agreement and their attempt to control the narrative are simply unacceptable.
“We’ve kept our end of the deal; the company has not.”
Unite claims 750 people are on strike at the West Marsh Road while Bakkavor say its ‘circa 450’.
The firm claims the pay offer is ‘above inflation’ though the union says it doesn’t account for the rise in living costs over the last three years.
Unite’s statement led to a response by Bakkavor.
Donna-Maria Lee, chief people officer, said: “It is now clear to us that it is becoming increasingly difficult to resolve this dispute with Unite and get people back to work anytime soon.
“We have engaged the union in discussions since the start, and our CEO met with them recently out of a genuine desire to resolve the issue.
“Coupled with their recommendation of refusing the latest offer, working colleagues have reported being made to feel uncomfortable by the strikers, and the union has set out on what it describes as “an international campaign” to directly lobby our stakeholders – when the real task for them is to settle a dispute in Spalding.
“It takes both parties to engage, and whilst we have sought to resolve the issue, I met with the union and it is clear that Unite has little interest in moving forward with the situation at Spalding, and is intent on lobbying, publicity and politics, rather than solving a strike that they called for.”
Mike Edwards CEO at Bakkavor said: “Our colleague pay and benefits are well above the minimum wage and ahead of inflation.
“The fact that our company’s ‘Long Service Awards’ have celebrated more than 4,000 colleagues for milestones between five and 35-year periods of service over the last two years shows that people choose to stay at Bakkavor, and for a length of time, which would be viewed as remarkable in many industry sectors today.
“Coupled with looking after our people, which we do, we have an obligation to be a sustainable business.”Our pay deals need to be fair to colleagues across all our 21 sites.
“We believe the offer proposed is entirely fair based on the context in which we are operating.
“If the pay offer is rejected we will be at an impasse and we will work to find a way to offer the increases to rates of pay and the bonus to all colleagues at Spalding on an individual basis.
“If accepted by individuals, this will see new rates implemented, back pay processed and bonus paid before Christmas which is what the majority of our Spalding colleagues want.”
On Tuesday the Guardian national newspaper reported that Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco were all out of taramasalata as a result of the strike action taking place in Spalding.
