Unite can confirm that further strike action is set to hit the Coop Funeralcare in Govan, Glasgow for a week beginning today (Monday 5 December).

 

Unite members at the coffin manufacturing factory will continue strike action after Co-op Funeralcare bosses failed to make an acceptable offer to resolve the long running pay dispute.

The strike action will last from Monday 5th December to Sunday 11th December.

Around 50 craft workers based at the Co-op’s factory are fighting for a fair pay award. The company has offered around 4.0 per cent for 2022, and 5 per cent for 2023, which has been rejected amid inflation soaring to hit a 40-year high of 14.2 per cent (RPI).

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The Co-Op seem to be revelling in playing the role of Scrooge this Christmas. Unite’s members deserve a fair pay award yet they have been made an offer which falls three times behind the current cost of living. This is totally unacceptable and our members will have their union’s full backing in this fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”

The Govan factory will now enter into strike action for a third month in a row with Unite warning that further action is on the cards.

Willie Thomson, Unite industrial officer, added. ‘Bosses at the Co-op Funeralcare and Co-op UK have quite frankly dumped their cooperative values in the bin. They have chosen to subcontract and pay third party suppliers in preference to their workers who are rightly seeking a fair wage settlement. 

“As well as ignoring their workers they are also ignoring the voices of politicians after the Co-op was named and shamed at both Holyrood and Westminster parliaments. The Co-op risks significant reputation damage and disruption to its supply of coffins by deliberately taking the decision to escalate this dispute.”

ENDS