{"id":19297,"date":"2021-06-07T13:47:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T13:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=19297"},"modified":"2021-06-07T16:51:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T16:51:12","slug":"belfast-hovis-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/07\/belfast-hovis-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Belfast Hovis Strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was first posted by Socialist Democracy (Ireland)and outlines the struggle between the Belfast Hovis workers fighting for pay parity with fellow workers in the rest of the UK, and the limitations imposed on their struggle by the relationship between the UK state and Northern Ireland and its acceptance by the trade union bureaucracy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BELFAST HOVIS STRIKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Workers win concessions but settlement falls short of pay parity<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hovis workers picket the Belfast plant.(Image: Declan Roughan\/PressEye)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week (24\/05\/21) workers at the Hovis bread bakery in Belfast ended their 11-day strike after union members voted in favour of a new pay deal.\u00a0 The trade unions involved (Unite & the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union) say that the settlement includes a 4% pay increase per year for two years, with the first increase backdated to January 2021.\u00a0 Sean McKeever, regional officer for Unite, hailed the outcome of the industrial action as a \u201chuge victory for these workers\u201d; a view echoed by BFAWU official Laura Graham, who claimed that workers had achieved a \u201csignificant victory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

To get a better sense of the strike and its outcome we need to examine the lead up to the strike and the issues involved.\u00a0 The central issue in this dispute was \u201cpay parity\u201d.\u00a0 This is a very common issue in labour disputes in the north (across both the public and private sectors) and points to the significant differential in wage rates between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.\u00a0 This is particularly stark when it comes to workers who are employed in the same company or public service and are essentially doing the same job as their direct GB counterparts but for less pay.\u00a0 In the case of Hovis, it was estimated by trade unions that the differential was 10 per cent.\u00a0 This was the basis of their demand for a 10% pay increase.\u00a0 Hovis did not dispute there was a differential. Indeed, its claim that bringing\u00a0\u00a0 wages in Belfast into line with those in GB would mean a 15% pay rise suggests and even wider gap.\u00a0 However, the main thrust of company\u2019s argument against parity – and one that is deployed most commonly by employers – is that wages are determined not by national pay rates but by local conditions.\u00a0 A spokesperson for the company stated its position very bluntly: \u201cOur pay is dictated by local market conditions, but is set to be competitive with every comparable industry in that region.\u201d On this basis Hovis made an offer of 3% each year for two years \u2013 an offer it believed was \u201cfair and reasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Strike<\/strong><\/p>\n

A failure to reach agreement on pay saw the commencement of industrial action on the 14 May.\u00a0 What was notable is that this action took the form of an all-out indefinite strike.\u00a0 This sets it apart from the familiar work to rules and token one day strikes that are the standard in most disputes.\u00a0 The continuous eleven days of strike action made the Hovis dispute the most sustained industrial struggle carried out by any group of workers in the north for many years.<\/p>\n

In terms of shutting down production and preventing the movement of stored products it was very effective.\u00a0 There was no production at the Belfast facility during the strike and, as the days passed, there were increasing reports that Hovis bread products were missing from shelves in supermarkets and retail stores.\u00a0 Given that its Belfast operation produces 35% of all bread sold in Northern Ireland the consequences of the strike had a very visible impact.\u00a0\u00a0 In the wake of the strike the company admitted that the dispute had \u201ccaused significant disruption to our customers and end-consumers\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 What was a particularly effective tactic for the workers was the maintenance of a 24 hour picket at the site.\u00a0 This impression is reinforced by the attempt (which was faced down) of the PSNI to use Covid regulations to have the picket removed.<\/p>\n

It is clear that the management at Hovis underestimated the determination and militancy that workers would display in the fight for higher wages.\u00a0 However, the same can also be said of the trade unions.\u00a0 It is doubtful that officials wanted to engage in strike action and they would have been alarmed at how it was escalating.\u00a0 This is revealed in their statements in the wake of the strike which, while heaping praise on workers for their resolve, also expressed regret that it had taken place.\u00a0 Unite described the strike action as \u201centirely avoidable\u201d while BFAWU said it was \u201cunfortunate it took strike action to achieve this raise.\u201d\u00a0 This completely ignores the fact that any concessions won by Hovis workers were a direct result of the strike action.<\/p>\n

The official trade line was repeated by the various political figures who associated themselves with the strike.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most notable amongst these was People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll who congratulated the strikers but also claimed that \u201cthey should never have been forced to stand on a picket\u201d particularity as they had carried out essential work during the pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0 He said it was wrong that Hovis workers in Belfast were paid less and he was \u201cglad they have won\u201d.<\/p>\n

Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n

So did the workers at Hovis win a victory? To answer that we need to examine the settlement and compare it to what was demanded by trade unions and what was initially offered by the employer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We should remember that this dispute was around the principle of pay parity and that unions demanded a 10% rise to bring workers in Belfast line with those in GB.\u00a0 In response the company offered a rise of 3% in this financial year and the next.\u00a0 Under the terms of the settlement workers will receive a 4% rise this year and next with this year\u2019s rise being backdated to the start of January.\u00a0 While this certainly represents an advance for workers at Belfast Hovis it does not achieve pay parity.\u00a0 Also, a rise over two years (which is eroded by inflation) has less value than an uplift within one year. What has been achieved is a partial victory.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be dismissed (particularly given the effort required to achieve it) but at the same time it shouldn\u2019t be overstated or presented as something it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Parity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The issue of parity, in terms of pay rates and working conditions, is primarily political in nature.\u00a0\u00a0 Workers in Northern Ireland are worse off, not because of the region\u2019s geographic position, but because the labour movement here (and across Ireland as a whole) has been divided and thereby weakened by partition and sectarianism.\u00a0\u00a0 The northern state was founded upon sectarianism and sectarianism continues to be the main regulator of every area of society including relations between labour and capital.\u00a0\u00a0 Without challenging the root cause of what divides workers, the potential of trade union struggles, even on the terms they set for themselves, is limited.<\/p>\n

This is compounded by the fact that the trade union leaderships are fully in support of the political structures that are hostile to their members and to the working class more generally.\u00a0 For example, on the issue pay parity, it was the Stormont executive that broke that in relation to the wages of staff within the health and education sectors.\u00a0\u00a0 More broadly, the promotion of Northern Ireland as a low-cost location for foreign investors (which is explicit about lower wage levels), is the central blank of the Executive\u2019s economic strategy.\u00a0 If the trade leaderships support this, how can they make an argument for parity?<\/p>\n

There is an obvious contradiction here and we have seen many times how it is resolved.\u00a0 This has come out most clearly around the numerous efforts the efforts to preserve up or restore the Stormont structures which have seen various agreements cobbled together.\u00a0 What was common to all these agreements is the programme of austerity that was attached to them.\u00a0 The trade unions have supported nearly all of them, except for the Stormont House Agreement (2014), which they formally opposed.\u00a0 However, this was position was reversed within a year with ICTU\u2019s endorsement of the even more pro-austerity Fresh Start Agreement (2015).\u00a0\u00a0 In a statement the body said it was endorsing the agreement in the belief that running an \u201coppositional campaign against our own politicians\u201d would be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 The trade unions have endorsed every subsequent agreement and its accompanying austerity programme, including the most recent New Decade, New Approach (2020).\u00a0\u00a0 In an earlier period was claimed the local political institutions would defend workers now workers are being asked to make sacrifices to preserve these institutions.<\/p>\n

Class struggle<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hovis strike, and the walkouts at various food processing plants over safety concerns around Covid last year, show the potential for militancy amongst sections of the working class in the north of Ireland.\u00a0 As society emerges from the pandemic employers will be seeking to recover losses while workers will resist a return to the old normal.\u00a0\u00a0 These are the dynamics that can produce a rising level of class struggle in the near future.<\/p>\n

The experience of the Hovis strike shows that workers have to fight hard to make even modest advances. When such action becomes more generalised it will inevitably raise more general questions.\u00a0 These will relate to the role of the trade union leaderships and also the sectarian nature of the state in which we live in.\u00a0\u00a0 The history of the labour movement in the north of Ireland, which has seen upsurges in working class militancy followed by heightened sectarian conflict, illustrates the potential for both advances and retreats that exist under conditions of rising class struggle.\u00a0 The role of socialists in this struggle is to raise awareness of that history and use it to shape a working-class programme that will provide a firm foundation for unity.\u00a0 Acting as cheerleaders for trade union leaders and ignoring or downplaying the divisions that exist amongst workers is not up to the task we face.<\/p>\n

1.6.21<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was first posted at:-<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.socialistdemocracy.org\/RecentArticles\/RecentBelfastHovisStrike.html<\/p>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

also see:-<\/p>\n

1. School opening revolt puts the squeeze union bosses \u2013 Socialist Democracy (Ireland)<\/strong><\/p>\n

School Opening Revolt Puts The Squeeze On Union Bosses<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n