More than 1,000 Ford staff to strike from tomorrow
More than 1,000 Ford employees will go on strike on Wednesday, the Unite union has said.
Administrative workers in Dunton, Stratford, Dagenham, Daventry and Halewood will walk out for 24 hours over a long-running dispute about pay and contract changes.
The carmaker has offered many office workers a one-off payment for 2024, rather than giving them a permanent pay rise.
Performance-related pay will be imposed from next year for all staff.
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Despite absence being less than 2%, changes to sick pay policy and the Unite collective bargaining agreement are also being sought, the union said. Ford is understood to offer two years full sick pay to employees.
The 24-hour walkout will be staged on 30 October after industrial action short of strikes began on 22 August.
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Managers have also been engaged in industrial action since June after the union said they were offered a performance-related pay award only, which all staff weren’t guaranteed to receive.
Unite said “sensible counter proposals” to end the disputes were put forward but Ford is “refusing to engage in good faith”.
Significant disruption will be caused by the strikes, Unite added.
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In response, Ford said: “Considering the overall competitiveness of our general salary roll employee pay and benefits package, the company’s final offer of a 5% total pay increase for 2023/24 is fair and balanced.
“We will continue to engage with Unite and our valued employees and endeavour to resolve the matter.”