GMB members at Saint Gobain Isover in Runcorn are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay. Members are being asked to vote whether or not they wish to take strike action after pay negotiations broke down without agreement.
After months of talks the company, who produce insulation materials for the construction industry, made a final offer of a 2% increase.
The company have gone through many changes over the past 15 months or so with redundancies and shift changes (the shift changes themselves are subject to a legal challenge from the GMB because the new shift pattern doesn’t include holidays which the union believes is in breach of the Working Time Regulations). The changes were made when the company was struggling with falling demand for its products, but have since seen a dramatic upturn with the operation now running flat out.
GMB Senior Organiser Terry Mellor said:
“We have been in discussion with the company since the end of last year and had agreed to put the pay talks on hold and work together to try and sort out a number of other problems on site. Our members have been working flat out since the company introduced a new shift system last year that has them working extra hours without any additional pay and without adequate holiday entitlement. It is no coincidence that sickness levels have increased and many of our members are now at breaking point. The company’s take it or leave it offer falls short of what our members believe is fair, particularly given all their efforts and the huge increase in production”
The result of the ballot will be announced on 6th July and a further announcement will be made then.
