Lockwood Haulage Workers Vote to Strike Over Pay Dispute with Coca-Cola Supplier

A group of around 40 workers at Lockwood Haulage Ltd, a West Yorkshire-based company that supplies Coca-Cola and major beer manufacturers, have voted to go on strike. The staff, who are forklift truck drivers and machine operators in the glass division, will walk out indefinitely from next Wednesday, September 2.

The dispute centers around pay and a proposed attendance-based bonus scheme. Unite the Union, which represents the workers, claims that the company's offer of a 1% pay rise was rejected by staff, who would be financially worse off under the new bonus system.

According to Unite regional officer Jessica Sangha, 'any strike action is completely the fault of Lockwood management, who have insulted our members with this paltry pay offer.' She emphasized that industrial action can still be avoided if Lockwood comes back with improvements to the pay offer that will be acceptable to the workers.