Coca-Cola Europacific Partners staff based at its soft drinks plant in Wakefield, Yorkshire, have accepted an up to 18% pay settlement, ending the threat of strike action.
The deal will see employees’ salaries increase between £3,476 and £3,876 in the first 12 months, with further increases to salaries set to take place from April 2024.
The lowest-paid technicians will receive a 16.6% increase to their salary, while the highest-paid will see a 10.2% rise. Meanwhile, the lowest-paid clerical workers will receive an 18.1% salary boost, and the highest-paid will receive a 12% increase.
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Earlier this year, employees voted for industrial action by a margin of 87% in protest over a pay offer, which they felt did nothing to address the cost-of-living crisis.
A total of 14 days of strike action, scheduled to start yesterday (14 June), have now been cancelled due to successful negotiations that led to the accepted pay settlement.
A Coca-Cola Europacific Partners spokesperson said: “Throughout this process we have remained fully committed to maintaining talks with our staff at the site, and their representatives, to secure a positive outcome.
“The agreed deal at Wakefield is very much in line with the approach we have adopted at other sites, with a 6% headline pay increase alongside other, locally negotiated, items that improve flexibility. We are pleased that these pay negotiations are now concluded.”
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Sharon Graham, general secretary at trade union Unite, added: “This is a well-deserved pay increase for Coca-Cola workers. The famous soft drinks firm made an astronomical £1.85 billion in profits. It’s only right that the workers on the factory floor get a fairer share of the profits they help to make. The workers are to be congratulated for joining forces and taking a stand.”
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