AstraZeneca staff strike as pension talks breakdown
pharmafile | November 15, 2010 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | AZ, AstraZeneca, AstraZeneca UK Manufacturing, GMB, Hurdsfield Industrial Estate, pensions, strikes, unions
Workers at an AstraZeneca facility in the UK went back on strike for the eighth time last week after talks between management and trade union representatives collapsed.
The industrial action affects the AstraZeneca UK Manufacturing on the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate in Macclesfield, one of the key packaging facilities in the group’s manufacturing network and a major site for oral dose and injectable formulation production.
The striking workers, who are all members of the GMB union, returned to the picket lines on Friday (12 November) to protest changes to the company pension scheme, and are also scheduled to strike tomorrow (16 November). They have also implemented an overtime ban.
The GMB union maintains that the strikes stem from AstraZeneca’s decision to impose what it describes as “savage cuts to its defined benefit (final salary) pension scheme”.
When balloted earlier this year, 70% of the 250 GMB members working at the Macclesfield site – Astra Zeneca’s second largest manufacturing site in the world – voted to strike, according to the union.
At the time, the GMB said the company had in effect decided to end its final salary pension scheme for 2,500 staff based mainly in Macclesfield.
GMB National Officer Allan Black said the collapse of the talks was “disappointing” but he laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of AstraZeneca’s management.
“GMB remains willing to enter into meaningful discussions at any time to resolve the dispute but there is no point in meeting AstraZeneca until and unless they have something constructive to say,” he said.
For its part, AstraZeneca maintains that the strike does not have strong support and that, despite the changes, its pension provisions compare favourably to those offered by other organisations in the UK.
Phil Taylor
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