Steve Score, East Midlands Socialist Party secretary
Workers at Lincat Lincoln, commercial kitchen manufacturers, began a week’s strike action on Monday 4 September. Socialist Party members and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters have joined the picket lines.
Unite the Union regional officer Lee Purslow told us: “The company is refusing to give them a reasonable pay offer. The offers they made have been derisory, and not anywhere near what these highly skilled workers require.
“Their pay is getting closer and closer to the minimum wage because the minimum wage has increased by 9.7% this year. Yet, we have people who, for example, deal with the electrical work, welding and sheet metal working.
Frozen pay? Absolutely not!
“The original offer the company made included a freeze on some of our members’ pay! We were not interested in that.
“After several months they came back with more. And the last offer was 5.5% for the first half of the year, and 8% for the second half – which works out to 6.75%.
“It’s nowhere near the 9.7% that these guys are looking for to keep them in line with the minimum wage, let alone inflation, which was 14% earlier in the year.
“Middleby [Lincat’s owners] made $1 billion in the second quarter of 2023. Lincat itself made £8.9 million for the year. So they have a bob or two to settle the dispute!”
