Some of Britain’s best-known food and drink brands, including Brewdog, Pepsico, Princes and KP snacks, face a Christmas logistics nightmare as workers vote over strike action.
Almost 1,000 GMB members at DS Smith, who also make corrugated packaging for Chivas, Diageo and Seabrooks crisps, are balloting for industrial action over areal terms pay cut.
The ballot closes 2 November, with any strike likely to take place later that month.
Almost 1,000 GMB members at DS Smith, who also make corrugated packaging for Chivas, Diageo and Seabrooks crisps, are balloting for industrial action over areal terms pay cut
Workers in five sites – Louth, Lincolnshire, Featherstone, in Yorkshire, Clay Cross, in Derbyshire, Devizes, in Wiltshire and Livingston, in Scotland – are taking part in the ballot.
London-based DS Smith has refused to increase an offer of a 3 per cent consolidated increase plus a non-consolidated payment of £760 for 2022 to 2023.
With inflation at 12.3 per cent, the deal amounts to a big real terms pay cut,
Andy Prendergast, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘DS Smith workers say the cost of living crush has made them £200 a month worse off, through no fault of their own.
‘These are the same staff who worked through the pandemic, helping to keep the business afloat.
‘Now workers need the company to recognise their efforts with a decent pay offer that helps confront soaring inflation and eye-watering energy bills in the months ahead, rather than hanging them out to dry.’
‘DS Smith can afford to do better.’
On the financial front, DS Smith revealed this month that it expects annual profits to come in ahead of expectations, despite a slowdown in demand for corrugated boxes.
The firm said ‘very strong’ revenue growth and sound cost mitigation had led to enhanced profitability.
Its adjusted operating profits for the six months ending 31 October are now set to total at least £400million, compared to £276million in the same period last year.
Since the start of 2022, though, the company’s share price has declined by over a third as cost-of-living pressures have grown and the pandemic-induced boom in online shopping has subsided.
Businesses have increasingly reported either a drop or modest rise in e-commerce sales this year amid a revival in store purchases due to the absence of Covid-related restrictions
DS Smith told investors early last month that sales of corrugated boxes had fallen slightly in the opening quarter.
It also reported that almost all input costs had dramatically gone up, particularly for energy, which has soared as pandemic-related restrictions have been relaxed and the Ukraine war has escalated.
To try and offset these higher expenses, the group has raised packaging prices and sought to limit the amounts of cardboard used in products.
The company has additionally hedged more than 90 per cent of natural gas costs for this financial year and around 80 per cent for the subsequent 12 months.
