Workers at a Derbyshire commercial flooring business are planning to stage a series of 48-hour walkouts in a dispute over pay.
More than 70 production staff at Forbo Flooring UK, who are members of the Unite union, are set to strike at the High Holborn Road factory in Codnor, near Ripley, over a “culture of staff being undervalued and disrespected”.
In total, 10 strikes are planned, with the first starting on October 15, followed by further walkouts throughout the rest of the month and into November and December.
This will be accompanied by a continuous overtime ban starting on 15 October.
According to the union, Unite members voted 61% in favour of strike action and by 60% for industrial action short of strike action to reject a 2.2% pay offer.
Unite regional officer Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Our members will be striking for the first time in recent years over a paltry pay offer that does not keep pace with the soaring cost of living.
“The current poor employment relations at the Ripley site are compounded by a culture which, we say, undervalues and disrespects our members.”
Forbo Flooring UK is owned by Swiss-based Forbo Holding AG. According to Unite, two European directors are due to fly to the UK today for a “crunch meeting” with the union.
Mrs Pidgeon said: “Because of this serious deterioration in employment practices, two European directors are flying in for a crunch meeting.
“The management has now threatened our members that they will withdraw company sick pay to those who go on strike which we believe is illegal – this is yet another indication of the parlous state of employee relations.
“That said, there is now a window of opportunity before the first 48-hour strike begins on October 15 for the local management to improve both its pay offer and the employment relations’ environment.
“We believe that the industrial action will have a dramatic adverse impact on the company’s production schedules, so it is in its interests to sit down with Unite for constructive negotiations.”
Forbo Flooring has declined to comment publicly while talks with the union are ongoing.
