Montrose workers at pharmaceutical giant GSK will stage a series of walkouts throughout May in a dispute over pay.
A total of 750 workers who are members of Unite the Union will strike at six GSK sites across the UK.
The employees voted in favour of strike action. They rejected the company’s offer of a 6% pay increase and a one-off lump sum of £1,300.
The union said the offer was a “substantial real-terms pay cut”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an incredibly wealthy company. It can fully afford to pay its workers a fair pay offer.
“This is a classic example of a company seeking to further boost its profits at the expense of its workers.
“Unite has a laser like focus on defending and enhancing the jobs, pay and conditions of its members.
“The workforce at GSK will be receiving Unite’s complete support.”
The Montrose workers will strike for 48 hours from May 2.
GSK sales of almost £30bn in 2022
GSK – or GlaxoSmithKline – was buoyed by bumper sales for its shingles vaccine Shingrix.
The London-listed pharmaceutical giant said sales grew by 19% to £29.3 billion in 2022, compared with the previous year.
It also made an operating profit of £8.15bn, a 26% increase on the previous year.
The workers set to strike include engineers, process technicians, laboratory analysts, warehouse workers and fire officers.
Unite national officer Tony Devlin said: “Strike action will inevitably result in widespread disruption across GSK’s operations, but the company has brought this dispute on itself.
“It has had every opportunity to make a pay offer which meets member expectations, but it has failed to do so.
“GSK has effectively stuck two fingers up to its workforce by walking away from the pay negotiations.”
GSK says pay offer ‘fair and reasonable’
The firm said it was “disappointed” in the decision by Unite to take industrial action.
A spokesperson said: “We recognise that for many of our people, this past year has seen their cost of living rise rapidly.
“We believe the offer we have made to our UK manufacturing colleagues covered by collective bargaining agreements is fair and reasonable.
“We are therefore disappointed that the Unite union has decided to take industrial action, despite receiving a final offer which includes a 6% increase on base pay, shift pay and allowances, plus a discretionary one-time payment of £1,300 – an overall package equivalent to a 9.7% increase.”
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