Severfield-Reeve Structures Ltd. occupies a 55 acre site in
Dalton, North Yorkshire and boasts 10 production lines with the capacity
to produce 3,200 tonnes of fabricated steelwork per week. With a
workforce of around 395, it is the model production unit of the
Severfield-Rowen plc. group , which includes Watson Steel Structures in
Bolton , Atlas Ward Structures in Scarborough, Fisher Engineering in
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and JSW Severfield Structures in Bellary
and Mumbai , India .
In June of last
year, the Company announced the need to reduce costs by 20% , having
announced group profits of £35 million for that year, giving the usual
excuses of ‘ the down turn in the market ‘ and a lack of orders as a
result of outbidding by rivals etc. etc. This coincided with the
closure of many Fabrication workshops in the area. The feeling of the
workforce, at that time, was distrust, most feeling that they’d chosen
the moment exactly at a time when the workforce had nowhere to run.
The Company’s proposal was to cut wages across the board by
20%. The workforce suggested that if the situation was that bad, why
did they not simply reduce hours at the site? After all such a
reduction would have meant a wage reduction for shop floor workers at
any rate. This was rejected by the Company who claimed that a reduction
in hours would make them less efficient and stated that the 20% cut was
necessary and non – negotiable.
This
sparked anger amongst the shop floor and support for unionisation of
the site spread rapidly through-out. This resulted in an unofficial
ballot, the outcome of which was overwhelming support for the union.
And so it began, the Company was forced to accept and recognise the
union with sole negotiating rights and entered into talks with the GMB.
The Company. climbed down from its’ 20% position and tabled a
proposal of 15%, which of course was rejected in a ballot. Tempers were
raised again, as it emerged that the Company. was seeking planning
permission, at the same time, for the building of 5 new lines on site
at Dalton.
The general feeling
amongst shop floor workers is that the Company. is preparing itself for
the subsequent closure of its’ Atlas Ward operation in Scarborough with
the intention of transferring the Wards workforce to Dalton an opinion
which is backed up by the exorbitant ground rent that the Wards site
incurs; further to that, is the fact that wages at the Dalton site are
currently the highest in the group, it seems certain to the workforce,
that this is the real reason for the wage reduction. Of course all
this was been fervently denied by the Company who then issued
redundancy notices, after failing to reach agreement on the 15%.
A mass meeting was called of both day and night shift workers
where it was unanimously agreed to give nothing away, after management had
asked what we would settle for.
Work
continued as normal, as it had throughout the dispute, leading to the
run up to Christmas, when the Co. announced plans to take our hourly
bonus payments. This did not come as a great surprise, since we were
already aware of the clause in our contracts which allowed them to do
so with 1 months notice. This was given and bonus payments ended on the
18th Jan. 2010.
Shortly after our
return to work after the Christmas break, the Union straw polled its’
members for industrial action in an attempt to bring management back to
the negotiating table. This seemed to work, with the Company bringing
in a management team from Atlas Wards in an attempt to move things
forward.
However, after tabling a
set of proposals , which again have been rejected , it seems that the
real purpose of the introduction of this new management team, is to
crush the strength of the union, having already sacked one shop steward
and suspended another whilst two other stewards took voluntary
redundancy.
In the light of these new events, the GMB has called on the remaining stewards to ballot members on strike action.
It seems likely that the ballot will be successful and that
strike action will result. The Dalton plant is a key part of the
company, but it will be important to seek the support of the workforce
in the other plants. This dispute is particularly significant given the
recent closure of the Corus plant in Redcar. The workers position is
clear, no wage cuts and no victimisation of shop stewards.
The recent period has seen some serious attacks on workers living
standards in industry; but its also seen a militant response in some
sectors. The workers at Dalton have managed to win trade union
recognition and the employers are developing the plant, this puts a
different slant on the matter. The fact that the workers have rejected
the pay cuts and are now looking at strike action is a sign that things
are beginning to change.
