Outcome of struggle will have big bearing on the development of similar fights by private sector workers elsewhere in the UK in the next period. We need to build the maximum solidarity to make sure they win!

by Stephen Hall, President of Leigh UNITE 0523 Branch which has members working at the Kitt Green plant.

UNITE the union members at the HJ Heinz factory at Kitt Green in Wigan are to stage further series of one day strikes in the coming weeks in pursuit of their ongoing pay claim following the rejection of a revised ‘final’ offer from Management by the workforce in a ballot held at the plant last Thursday and Friday

Their decision to so do so, as well as to continue to impose a total overtime ban, follows an initial 9 to 1 ballot early in December rejecting a management ‘final’ pay offer of 3.3% this year and 3% the following year, in addition to a unanimous vote at a subsequent mass meeting for a series of one day strikes in pursuit of a ‘considerably better’ offer by Heinz bosses, proposed by local union officials at the plant.

The revised offer of 3.5 percent this year plus £200 non-consolidated bonus with a 3.4 percent pay rise for 2012 which the union advised the workforce still fell far short of both their expectations and the cost of living, was roundly rejected by 65.4 percent of Heinz’s 1200-strong UNITE membership at the plant.

These further 24 hour stoppages (presently scheduled for today & the 19th January 2011) follow closely behind three such one day strikes already staged by the workforce in the run up to the recent Christmas holiday period which have been solidly supported on each occasion, and which have seen hundreds of those striking, going down to the picket line at various stages of the day and especially around the work’s three daily shift changes.

The Wigan plant which employs a workforce of around 1500, is the largest food-processing site in Europe and produces 1.5m cans of baked beans a day. The confidence of the workforce to take on Heinz management, which to some, might appear at odds with the general demoralisation and lack of confidence of many other workers, is the result of a big increase in the demand for baked beans, spurred on ironically, by the continuing economic recession.

Lowering living standards it would appear, have led to many increasingly hard pressed families cutting back on their weekly food spend and to them substituting baked beans for more expensive food items. This increase in demand for baked beans has seen Heinz’s profits soar and shareholders receive a 9% dividend for the last financial year.

The Heinz workers are rightly demanding a wage increase reflective of their contribution to the making of those profits and to meet, if not better, the rising cost of living they and their families are currently facing.

On the face of it, this fight would look to be very much a ‘set piece battle of attrition’ between HJ Heinz, which is a comparatively small firm in UK industrial terms, and the country’s biggest trades union UNITE. That being so, and given the present strength of feeling amongst the workforce, the conditions for victory would clearly appear favourable to the trades union side. However, since the outcome of this struggle will have a big bearing on the development of similar fights by private sector workers elsewhere in the UK, it is inevitable that other employers, as no doubt the Government, will be looking at Heinz management to hold the line, and will be supporting them in their attempts to see off any potential ‘inflation busting’ union victory over pay at their Wigan plant.

The initiative right now, once again, clearly lies with the workforce rather than Heinz’s management. Its continued resolve, combined with further one day ‘guerilla’ strike actions and the overtime ban, provided they are both persisted with and fully backed by the union nationally, in terms of strike pay and any necessary hardship relief, will inevitably bring themselves to bear on Heinz’s profits at some point and force its management to concede to the union’s demands in order to restore them.

UNITE claims the three one day strikes which have taken place so far have cost the company in excess of £3 million in lost production.

As trades unionists we need to build the maximum solidarity to make sure they win! Such a result which will help to raise the confidence of rank and file trades unionists everywhere to take on their own bosses and might also gain UNITE thousands of new recruits from currently un-unionised workforces in the private sector in the process. A defeat conversely, will have the opposite effect.

Send cheques made payable to “Ian S Wright ” to Ian Wright (UNITE Acting Convenor) at the Union Office, HJ Heinz, Kitt Green, Wigan WN5 0JL. (Bank Transfers SORT CODE 08-92-86 A/c No. 16085255)

To keep up to date with what’s going on, find out the next strike day and post messages of support sign up to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_186564544691811 (Heinz Strike info page on Facebook). 24 Stoppages are currently planned for the 11th & 19th January 2011.

Alternatively e-mail: wrightian5@sky.com with messages of support. The Union office number is 01942 624984.

Heinz strike leaders Mick Quinn & Ian Wright will be speaking at the forthcoming Greater Manchester Against the Cuts Conference on Saturday 22nd January at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester organised by Greater Manchester Association of Trades Councils. (see flyer below)