| Scores of striking bakery workers and supporters have blockaded the Hovis factory in Wigan, where BFAWU members have been taking part in a second week of industrial action in a dispute over the abuse of “zero hours” contracts. Pickets halted delivery trucks as they tried to leave the site from 2am. In a series of noisey but good-natured stand-offs with police officers, demonstrators delayed trucks driven by Hovis managers and agency drivers brought in from Essex and Scotland. During four hours, fewer than 10 trucks managed to leave the yard at the Wigan bakery on the edge of the Lancashire town. As strikers blocked a narrow road out of the gates of the site, trucks were taking 20 minutes to travel less than 50 metres. A scheduled fleet of 40 was due to make early-morning deliveries to shops and supermarkets as far away as North Wales and the Midlands. By 5.30, the company appeared to abandon its efforts to put trucks out on the road until after the official end of the current strike period at 6am. More than 50 drivers based at the site have refused to drive the trucks through picket lines for health and safety reasons. BFAWU says management at the Wigan site – which is owned by Premier Foods – has refused to implement an agreement reached earlier this year, which would limit the use of zero hours contracts to emergencies only. Strikers, who asked not to be named because they feared it might jeopardise their jobs, said some workers had been on continuous zero hours contracts for as long as three years. They dismissed claims by the company that it needed flexibility in the workforce to allow for peaks and troughs in demand for bread. Workers told UnionNews they believed the continuing use of agency workers being used to cut wages and make staff feel insecure. Geoff Atkinson, the BFAWU regional organising official – and himself a former employee at the Wigan bakery – told UnionNews: “It’s been a fantastic show of strength from the members and from the public. “At this point in time, we’ve had no contact from the company to say if they’ll sit down and try to come to a resolution of this situation. “The company say they want to talk about ‘trust’ to us by they won’t agree to talk to us about ceasing the use of zero hours contracts by a third party, an employment agency. “Our members all took a reduction in their pay to protect employment here, not to have zero hours contracts.” The local MP, Lisa Nandy, has called for the company to re-open talks with BFAWU urgently, to try to resolve the dispute. Union officials warn their industrial action will escalate if the company continues to refuse new negotiations. Senior sources say the unions’ trust in the local management has been severely damaged by the company’s reaction to the two weeks of strike action. Secretary of the local trades council, Terry Abbott, said: “I want to pay tribute to one of the smallest trade unions in the land, the bakers’ union. “The message is: these people have been courageous enough to take on the fight on behalf of all of everyone. That’s very significant.” BFAWU members are due to resume a third week of strike action from 25 September. - See more at: http://union-news.co.uk/2013/09/hovis-zero-hours-strike-as-strong-as-it-ever-was/#sthash.LcrKXT0M.dpuf |