Buck’s Fizz might be forced off the menu this Christmas after fruit juice factory workers announced they would go on strike in a row over pay.
Nearly 200 workers at Princes Food factory in Cardiff are to walk out as the Unite unison warns of a ‘nationwide shortage’ of fresh fruit juices, including orange juice.
The workers will down tools and head to the picket line on 17 and 24 December.
Unite members at the Welsh site are taking industrial action after claiming staff’s previous pay offers have been revoked by new owners.
Previous owners Mitsubishi had offered line operatives and engineers a four to seven percent pay increase, the union said.
But since the firm was bought by Italian based multinational Newlat S.p.A, staff have been told they will receive a three percent pay rise instead.
Unite said staff had been left furious and accused Newlat of failing to negotiate with its members.
In a statement, Unite said: ‘Staff at the factories, who work in labour-intensive roles, are furious at such behaviour after attempts to negotiate with the employer failed.’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Newlat need to get back round the negotiating table before its customers discover they won’t have any products on their shelves. Our members work in back-breaking roles on low pay and want a fair slice of the pie.
‘Newlat make 20 percent of all their revenues in the UK and are making money off the backs of these workers. Yet they want to short change our members.
.Unite won’t stand for such behaviour and will back our members in any dispute.’
Unite national officer for food, drink and agriculture Paul Travers said: ‘Newlat borrowed huge sums of money to buy Princes and is now looking to cut corners and penny pinch to pay that money back. Unite won’t let them do so with our members’ livelihoods.
‘Newlat can avoid this strike, which is one of their own making, by coming back to the negotiating table with a new and improved pay deal for our members.’
Hundreds of other workers at other Princes Food factories in Long Sutton, Wisbech, Bradford and Glasgow have also voted for strike action, with further dates set to be announced.