An Ayrshire pharmaceutical firm is facing months of industrial action after workers went on strike this morning.
Around 40 members of staff at the GSK plant in Irvine have downed tools in a dispute over bonus payments.
Electricians, scaffolders, cable pullers and labourers - all members of Unite, Scotland's largest Union - started strike action at 7.30am today which is planned to continue each day up to January 23.
The workers, employed by contractor Kaefer Limited, are seeking a bonus payment of £2.37 an hour.
That's the maximum allowed under the relevant industrial agreement (National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI).
There will also be an overtime ban in force which will last until April 2 and directly impact on the maintenance of the plant.
Unite claim GSK recorded sales of £7.8 billion in the third quarter of 2022, and a total operating profit of £1.2 billion.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “GSK, which operates the Irvine plant, is making eye-watering profits.
"Paying our members the bonus they are seeking is like a drop in the ocean to their overflowing coffers. Yet the contractor Kaefer who we are directly in dispute with onsite refuses to award our members what they are entitled to.
"The workers will have Unite’s 100 per cent backing in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”
Unite industrial officer Paul Bennett added: “The strike action will cause considerable disruption and it will lead to significant delays in maintenance issues affecting GSK’s Irvine plant.
“Our members don’t want to be in this position but they have been forced to take this action in order to get what they are entitled to under a UK wide bargaining agreement. The action will continue until our members get what they deserve.”
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