Pay strikes by more than 500 workers employed by CNH Industrial’s tractor factory in Basildon will continue throughout June, according to Unite, the UK’s leading trades union.
The workers took 10 days of strike action in May in response to CNH breaking an agreement signed in 2022 that pay increases would be calculated by the average rate of inflation over the previous year.
Instead, CNH has offered a four per cent increase for 2024, rather than the 7.4 per cent it should have done. For 2024, the company, which made profits of £2.4 billion in 2023, is offering the rate of inflation as of January 2024.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “CNH will not get away with its broken pay promises. It is making massive profits and the only reason the company is reneging on the deal is out and out corporate greed. No amount of double-dealing or attempts to undermine the strikes will work, CNH Basildon workforce will not back down and they have the full power of Unite supporting them.”
CNH Group profits are forecast to stay high for the next three years. CEO Scott Wine received a total compensation package of £19 million in 2022, which was 310 times the pay of the average worker at CNH Group.
The company has said it has a revised offer but is refusing to table it unless Unite agrees to recommend the as yet unseen deal to its members.
The ploy is the latest attempt to undermine the strike action by CNH. It has also targeted Unite workplace reps by switching their shift times and roles as well as reducing hours for other staff.
Unite regional officer Michelle Cook said, “CNH’s duplicity, time-wasting and attempts at strike breaking have not only failed, they have also strengthened our members resolve and resulted in even more workers joining the union.
“There is only one way that this dispute will be settled and that is for CNH to put forward an acceptable offer.”
Fresh strike action will take place on 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 June. Unite says that the strikes will severely compromise the supply of New Holland tractors from the sixty-year-old factory, which are shipped across the world.