Severfields engineers strike against bonus cut

Hugh Caffrey, Socialist Party

One hundred engineering workers at Severfields (formerly Watsons) factory in Bolton, Greater Manchester took their second day of rock-solid strike action on 9 October.

Management want to get rid of the Ł1,200 annual bonus received by workers for minimising sickness absence, and tried to push this through by making acceptance of that cut a condition for granting a pay rise. In other words, the employers would give with one hand and take with the other. Workers have refused to accept this and after months of talks, have taken two days strike action this month.

Colin Gidman told me: "It's gone very well this morning, 100% so very very good. This started earlier in the year, in May, and months later it's still going on! They've said they want to talk to us next Wednesday, so we'll see what comes of that."

Numerous employers are inventing new policies on sickness to bully and harass their employees into accepting worse pay and terms and conditions. There is bound to be a suspicion that Severfields has the same agenda, but GMB members at its Bolton plant are showing them that workers have had enough!

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 10 October 2014 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.

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