Some 1,300 workers at turkey supplier Bernard Matthews are planning to strike next week in a dispute over pay.
Union T&G warned turkey supplies to Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons could be threatened in the run up to Christmas unless the dispute was resolved.
It is the latest blow for the troubled supplier, which was at the centre of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu at one of its farms in Suffolk in February. Last week, the company's CEO Bart Dalla Mura left the company - as revealed by www.thegrocer.co.uk.
And according to reports in the Daily Mail this morning, the bird flu outbreak caused Bernard Matthews to slump £25.9m into the red after exceptional costs of £43.5m.
T&G said 1,300 members across three sites in East Anglia had been angered by a below-inflation pay rise of 2% and had voted to take industrial action next Thursday (15 November).
"The workforce has held this company together through a most challenging year, so have been particularly angered by management's imposition of what is effectively a pay cut,” said Miles Hubbard, Unite regional industrial organiser.
Bernard Matthews said just 27% of T&G members working for the company - 12% of its workforce - had voted in favour of a strike.
“The consequence of lost business is potential job losses, which is not what anyone wants,” a spokesman said. “The union's strategy of fighting for a pay award when there are no additional finances to fund one appears to be at odds with its desire to work in the interest of our employees' future.”
Union T&G warned turkey supplies to Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons could be threatened in the run up to Christmas unless the dispute was resolved.
It is the latest blow for the troubled supplier, which was at the centre of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu at one of its farms in Suffolk in February. Last week, the company's CEO Bart Dalla Mura left the company - as revealed by www.thegrocer.co.uk.
And according to reports in the Daily Mail this morning, the bird flu outbreak caused Bernard Matthews to slump £25.9m into the red after exceptional costs of £43.5m.
T&G said 1,300 members across three sites in East Anglia had been angered by a below-inflation pay rise of 2% and had voted to take industrial action next Thursday (15 November).
"The workforce has held this company together through a most challenging year, so have been particularly angered by management's imposition of what is effectively a pay cut,” said Miles Hubbard, Unite regional industrial organiser.
Bernard Matthews said just 27% of T&G members working for the company - 12% of its workforce - had voted in favour of a strike.
“The consequence of lost business is potential job losses, which is not what anyone wants,” a spokesman said. “The union's strategy of fighting for a pay award when there are no additional finances to fund one appears to be at odds with its desire to work in the interest of our employees' future.”
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