Carlsberg-Tetley has vowed that supplies of Tetley’s bitter will not be hit after staff at its Leeds brewery voted in favour of a week-long strike.
As The Grocer went to press, the brewer was meeting union leaders in a bid to avert action after 140 of the 204 employees rejected a 3% pay rise.
The walk out, due to start on Monday (January 19), will involve technicians and forklift truck drivers who are demanding a 5% increase.
Carlsberg-Tetley’s head of corporate affairs, Donna Cresswell, said: “We believe the pay offer was fair. We are meeting with the unions and feel that they want a positive resolution. We want to avoid strike but if the dispute isn’t resolved we have contingency plans to safeguard supply.
“We have staff who can be redeployed to the brewery but January isn’t a busy time in terms of the volume anyway.”
Staff at the brewer’s Northampton operation, where Carlsberg is produced, have already accepted the 3% deal.
Meanwhile, Carlsberg has unveiled a series of promotions to leverage its sponsorship of football’s FA Cup. As well as special cans, tickets to matches will be up for grabs along with soccer-themed merchandise.