Tom Baldwin, South West Socialist Party regional secretary
600 workers took to the picket lines in Bristol as Unite members in GKN struck for the first time in 40 years. A 3.3% pay offer was the final straw after years of pay suppression and 98% of members voted to strike.
GKN claims it can’t afford to pay the union’s demand of 5.5% but it is a very profitable company with a large and growing mountain of cash. So much so that the CEO of parent company Melrose was paid the highest bonus in the FTSE 100 – a massive £45 million! He pleads poverty on behalf of the company while ‘earning’ over a thousand times more than the average GKN worker. Just 2% of his bonus would cover the union’s pay claim.
The strike rally was addressed by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, who talked about what the union has won for workers across hundreds of disputes. She affirmed her support for the GKN workers and talked about the possibility of escalation.
- Branch nominations in the Unite general election open on 4 June and run until 28 June. The Socialist Party is supporting Sharon Graham. Read more at socialistparty.org.uk, search ‘Unite general secretary election: re-elect Sharon Graham’
