Zarah ChoudharyUnite has made a formal complaint on behalf of its members to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) which ensures compliance with international labour standards in the global supply chains of member companies.
Major high street supermarkets are signed up members of the ETI and will now be aware that Bakkavor is paying poverty wages to its workforce.
Unite members at the food manufacturer have been on strike since the early autumn to secure better rates of pay.
Hundreds of members working for Bakkavor Foods in Spalding, Lincolnshire, are taking industrial action after years of real terms pay cuts.
Bakkavor’s management has refused to engage in meaningful negotiations. Instead, they have brought in strike-breakers from other sites.
In response, Unite has complained to the ETI which means that it will have alerted all its members to Bakkavor’s appalling behaviour.
Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite said: “Bakkavor’s utter unwillingness to negotiate and to attempt to break a lawful strike has left Unite with no choice.
“Not only are we telling their customers about their unethical behaviour, but we will target companies that continue to do business with them.
“Bakkavor need to understand that Unite is ramping up our campaign to win fair pay for our members.”
Bakkavor made £94m in profit last year according to Unite.
But most workers in Spalding are paid just 10p above the minimum wage. Unite members are demanding a pay rise of 81p an hour on average.
This amounts to just 2% of Bakkavor’s profits.
In addition to the formal ETI complaint Unite is also escalating its campaign of targeting customers of Marks and Spencer.
The customers are being asked to contact the M&S board and to demand that they intervene and tell Bakkavor to return to negotiations.
As the escalation campaign further accelerates Unite will also begin to target customers at Waitrose and Pizza Express with a similar message.
Bakkavor is a major food manufacturer, with annual sales of £1.9 bn.
It supplies Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s and other major supermarkets.
Graham added: “Major UK supermarkets like M&S claim to care about their workforce and those of their suppliers.
“Well it is now clear that they cannot continue to pretend it is business as usual with a company like Bakkavor who treats its workers so badly.”
*Mailed at 10.40am*
