SPALDING, England — Members of Unite the Union at Bakkavor here marked 12 weeks of their strike with a 150-strong picket Dec. 20. Workers walked out Sept. 26 over a pay claim. The strike is now a battle over the union itself.
Bosses have bused in strike-breakers from other plants, refused negotiations in favor of pressuring individual workers to accept a deal, and declared they aim to end paid breaks and erode premiums for shift- and public holiday work.
At the picket workers held a Christmas raffle and received a solidarity message and strike fund contribution from Rail Maritime and Transport union members from St. Pancras station in London.
Two days earlier, fellow Unite members at Oscar Mayer, 150 miles away, mounted a 100-strong rally outside the Wrexham Borough offices, where the local council was discussing and adopted a motion in support of the strikers.
Workers at Oscar Mayer also walked out in September to fight bosses’ demands to end paid breaks and extra pay for working public holidays — effectively a wage cut — and for union recognition.
“Without a union we have nothing,” strike leader Joanna Kowalska told the Militant.
Prominent on placards at the rally were demands for the reinstatement of workers fired by bosses who claim they didn’t sign a contract in time. The contract was issued in English, yet the majority of workers are from Eastern Europe and read little English.
Bosses “thought they could get away with this because we’re immigrant workers,” striker Zlati Zlatev said.
Andrés Mendoza in Manchester contributed to this article.