Wave of demonstrations across UK and Europe as Coca-Cola
Enterprises prepares to cut jobs and pay
26 October 2010
Unite members across seven Coca-Cola Enterprise (CCE) sites will
tomorrow (Wednesday 27 October) join their fellow trade union
members across Europe in staging a series of nationwide
demonstrations against the company’s European-wide restructuring,
which they believe is being pushed through without proper
consultation with the workforce.
Up to 120 well paid UK jobs are at risk, and over 400 in Europe
as a whole, as the company forces through its restructuring plans
with only lower salaried roles available to replace them.
The workers are concerned that management’s apparent
unwillingness to engage meaningfully with them is part of the
company's broader strategy of boosting profits by using the
recession to force through restructuring and cuts in jobs and
pay.
In sharp contrast to the workers' fortunes, earlier this month
CCE's board of directors declared that the dividend rate for
shareholders would increase by more than 30 per cent from December.
In April 2010, CCE posted a net profit of $110 million and said it
expected growth to continue throughout this year.
Jennie Formby, Unite national officer for food and drink, said:
“We are extremely concerned that a recession-resistant company
seems bent on using the economic difficulties to force through
attacks on jobs and pay. While the boardroom rewards shareholders,
it is callously cutting the jobs of the workers who help make Coke
its massive profits.
“Unite is demanding that Coke thinks again. As a very
minimum there must be a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies,
permanent pay protection for all displaced workers and Coke must
start to engage fully in meaningful consultation about making sure
our members don’t pay the price for changes that will further
benefit this phenomenally profitable company.”
Unite members at CCE sites in Edmonton, Sidcup, East Kilbride,
Bristol, Northampton, Milton Keyes and Wakefield will protest
against the restructuring in a series of demonstrations throughout
the day.
There have been a series of strikes at the Edmonton bottling
plant over a below inflation pay offer. Further action has been
suspended as more talks loom.
ENDS
For details of the demos, please contact the following Unite
officials
- Wakefield: Barry Firth, senior steward – 07704764755, Kelvin
Mawer, regional officer - 07958514839
- Sidcup: Tony Phillips, senior steward – 07766946982, Dave
Turnbull, regional officer – 07980721427
- Edmonton: Alan McCarthy, senior steward – 07939 216114, Wayne
King , regional officer - 07980721407
- Bristol: Martin Curran, senior steward – 07773041889
- East Kilbride: Paul Christie 07809618684
- Northampton: Lee Dearing 07974683861
- Milton Keynes: Alan Costello (GMB officer)
07974250946
Join the demonstration on your site:
- Wakefield – 6.00pm-8.00pm
- Northampton - 10.30am-11.00am
- Edmonton - 5.15pm-5.45pm
- Sidcup – 5.45am-6.15am; 1.45pm-2.15pm; 5.45pm-6.15pm
- East Kilbride – 2.00pm-2.30pm
- Milton Keynes – 5.30pm-6.00pm
For further information contact: Pauline Doyle, Unite press office
07976 832861
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