YKK profits at £399 million but tells low paid Runcorn workers to take real terms pay cut

Around 70 workers, members of Unite, are being balloted for strike action until 22 July over a 5.2 per cent pay offer that would see the lowest paid employee paid just £9.54 per hour. The real rate of inflation, RPI, is currently running at 11.8 per cent and rising. 

General secretary of Unite, the UK’s leading union, Sharon Graham said: “YKK makes hundreds of millions in profits and can clearly afford to give these workers a proper pay rise. Unite will give our Runcorn members maximum support in their fight for fair wages.”  

Japan-based YKK is a global manufacturer that produces fastening products such as zips, snap buttons, hooks and loops and plastic buckles.

The company’s global profits increased from £197 million in 2020 to £399 million in 2021. On its website, YKK says it is led by the phrase: ‘The Cycle of Goodness- No One Prospers without rendering benefit to others’.

Unite regional officer Richard O’Brien said: “YKK’s offer will leave many of its workers on subsistence wages. Clearly the company’s ‘cycle of goodness’ philosophy does not extend to its workforce. The company needs to return to the negotiating table with a deal our members can agree to before this dispute escalates.”

ENDS

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Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest union with members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.