Michelin Workers Vote Over Ballymena Strike Action

Workers at Michelin’s Ballymena plant are to vote over possible strike action. The outcome of an indicative vote on industrial action at the Michelin tyre factory should be known early next week. The vote follows the news that workers at Michelin’s Dundee operation have accepted the terms, while workers at the company’s Stoke-on-Trent site are in the process of postal ballot about the strike action.

The views of the 800 members of the Amalgamated Transport & General Workers Union at the plant are being sought. If they indicate that they are in favour of strike action, then a definitive postal ballot will be held. The issue at stake is a 3 per cent / £650 lump sum pay offer which was rejected by 69 per cent of ATGWU members last November.

One worker who contacted the expressed concern about the wording of the consultative ballot paper, the Belfast Telegraph reports. He said: “We are being warned that anyone taking part in industrial action may be in breach of the terms of their employment. This is bound to worry workers who are concerned about the consequences of such a move.”

But Bobby Hanna, the union’s regional industrial organiser, said the inclusion of the warning was a legal requirement. “The union has a duty to be up front and explain all the implications to its members,” he said.
Mr Hanna said the main bone of contention was that the pay rise was not being consolidated into salaries, and therefore would not increase pension provision. “After the pay deal was rejected we went back to management but the company is not budging. We now want to establish what the level of support for industrial action is, and if there is backing we will progress to a postal ballot,” Mr Hanna added.

The union did not recommend acceptance or rejection of the pay deal, which applies to all 1,200 employees at the Ballymena plant. Michelin spokesman Ian Hughes said the company was disappointed about the prospect of industrial action at Ballymena, and said he hoped the issue could be resolved by negotiation.