Nick Hart, Birmingham Socialist Party
Workers at the Farmfoods warehouse in Solihull have taken two days of strike action for the first time, against low pay, unsafe working practices, and management’s refusal to recognise the union.
GMB members working as reach truck operators are paid minimum wage, while pickers get barely 12p more than that! This compares to £16 an hour at the company’s Bristol warehouse.
As the chain has rapidly expanded, more and more work has piled onto the site in Solihull.
Workers told some shocking stories about working conditions there, including dead rats and mould surrounding stock left on the floor during flooding; workers left unattended after strokes and head injuries; timesheets being manipulated to allow 80-hour working weeks; trucks and forklifts sent into the public road without insurance or number plates; and management favouritism with racist bias shown.
The workers know they are the ones who keep the business running, and are determined to get what’s owed to them.
As one told Socialist Party members as soon as we arrived at the picket line: “We made this a billion-pound company”!
