Union at Northampton's biggest food factory Greencore reject 'unfair' pay rise

A workers' union at one of the UK's biggest sandwich packaging factories in Northampton has rejected a pay rise for employees after branding it "unfair".

The offer by the Greencore factory in Moulton Park - which employs some 2,100 people - was tabled last month with a 50p increase on the hourly wage for the lowest paid workers.

But the deal was criticised by the plant's branch of the Baker's, Food and Allied Workers Union for offering more money to new contracts that began after January 2020.

In fact, the union's president Bob Handley shared online that, under the deal, a new starter at his pay grade would have been earning more than him despite working for the factory for over 40 years.

Now, the union's members have rejected the pay offer after a month-long ballot returned 273 objections out of 340 votes.

President Bob Handley told the Chronicle & Echo: "We urged our members to turn down this offer because new contracts would be earning more money than people have been with company for years. It's not fair one bit.

"The old contractors built the business. All we're asking for is a fair pay rise."

The proposed pay rise offered to backdate the pay award to April 1, 2020, with the difference paid by Christmas.

However, the union disagreed with how newly-contracted skilled and semi-skilled operatives would have earned comparatively more than nearly every other existing contracted pay grade.

Additionally, the new contracts would not have been paid extra for working night shifts and would instead have earned the same rate around the clock.

It would have meant that the lowest-paid earners would be on £8.88 an hour, while the highest-paid "skilled operatives" from after January 2020 would be earning more than any existing contract.

The ballot for the pay rise stated if the offer wasn't accepted it would be withdrawn.

The union is reportedly set to discuss the offer with Greencore on December 18.

A spokesperson for Greencore said: “It is disappointing that our proposed pay rise for colleagues at our Northampton site has been rejected, especially given the current challenging climate in which very few businesses are in a position to offer one.”