Tradeteam strike folds
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by Derren Hayes
• Industrial action by drivers and warehouse staff at Tradeteam—the Bass Breweries and Exel Logistics partnership—has collapsed after the company tabled a last-minute redundancy offer to employees.
Strikes by 1,400 Transport and General Workers Union members were set for 23 -24 January and 6-7 February after 85% voted for action in a ballot last week. Tradeteam's injunction to stop strike action was thrown out by a Manchester court last Thursday.
The action was an attempt to push for national bargaining as the company wanted to set wages at a local level—effectively cutting pay and changing working conditions.
Tradeteam has offered all primary distribution drivers at depots in the South-East, Sheffield, Leeds, Tadcaster, Hull and Sleaford the opportunity to take redundancy if they don't want to change to the new contracts. "We are having consultations with all employees at depots that will be affected and those who want redundancy will be offered the Tradeteam rate which is higher than the statutory level," says a spokeswoman.
However, Brian Revell T&G's national secretary for food, drink and tobacco says many drivers were worried about losing their jobs and redundancy entitlement if they went on strike. He adds: "So many have got offers of redundancy that they don't want to strike as they don't want to work for Tradeteam under the new terms."