Union members at Vion Llangefni vote narrowly in favour of strike action

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Trade union Strike action

chicken leg
chicken leg
Members of the Unite union at Vion’s chicken processing plant in Llangefni will meet next Wednesday (September 8) to decide whether to take industrial action over pay after the results of a ballot were announced this week.

Just over half (58%) of union members that took part in the ballot said they were prepared to take industrial action, while 68% were prepared to take action short of going on strike, Paddy McNaught, an organiser at trade union Unite, told FoodManufacture.co.uk.

"We've got a meeting on Wednesday at 2pm to decide how to proceed."

Staff had been offered a 2% increase in basic pay​ but were “looking at something more in line with the RPI (retail price index)​”, he added.

The factory employs 350 staff including casual and agency workers, claimed McNaught.

He would not reveal how many union members voted in the ballot.

A Vion spokesman said: “Until we are informed by the union of the nature of the proposed industrial action, it would be inappropriate for us to comment.”

250 new jobs

Vion recently announced plans to create 150 new jobs at its chicken processing site at Coupar Angus and 100 new jobs at its cooked meats plant at Cambuslang.

However, it has also proposed up to 94 redundancies at its Bostock Road factory in Winsford (which employs around 400 staff), while the proposed closure of its bacon factory in Halifax (with production to switch to Scunthorpe) has put 60 jobs at risk.

More than 200 jobs were also cut at Vion’s Welsh Country Foods meat processing plant in Anglesey earlier this year, while a further 180 jobs were axed at its Haverhill cooked meats plant in Suffolk.

The spokesman added: “This must be seen against a background of increased competition and overcapacity in the sector.”

Firms were also bracing themselves for more pain as rising grain prices filtered through into higher meat production costs, he said. “With pigs and chicken, feed can represent up to 60% of production costs, so this is a real concern.”

However, Vion had pumped a significant amount of investment into the business following its acquisition of Grampian in 2008, he noted.

Related topics Meat, poultry & seafood

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