Workers employed by the Tesco division Best Food Logistics, who deliver food for KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Wagamama among other chains, have voted to strike over pay.
According to the GMB union, about 76% of workers who voted in a strike ballot were in favour of industrial action, while 188 brewery workers of the Unite union voted for strikes.
The brewery workers, based in Bury St Edmunds, Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, and Abingdon in Oxfordshire, brew and distribute beverages for Greene King. They will take five days of strike action, beginning 5 December.
Some 600 staff in total across both unions are set to strike, leaving fast food chains and pubs with a supply shortage. The Best Food Logistics workers are yet to announce dates.
Greene King had offered workers a 3% pay rise and a one-off payment of £650.
“We are disappointed the union has encouraged its members to reject our pay offer, as well as a number of other benefits, and pursue this course of action,” a Greene King spokesperson said.
“Our pay rise offer is fair and consistent across the business, especially given the challenging wider economic environment. We have full contingency plans in place to minimise disruption and we will be working closely with our customers to communicate and implement these in the coming days.”
Sharon Grahan, Unite general secretary, said: “Greene King’s owners are incredibly wealthy; the failure to offer workers a decent pay rise is all about greed and not about need.
“Unite, which is now entirely focused on defending the jobs, pay and conditions of its members, will not idly stand by while a wealthy company tries to further boost its profits by subjecting its workers to substantial real-terms pay cuts.”
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said: “Shareholders are trousering large dividends, while the people who do the graft are struggling to make ends meet.”
