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Salvesen staff `fed up' with deal
Page 7
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• Drivers at Christian Salvesen's chilleddistribution depot in Spalding say they are victims of a back door deal' in which their jobs will be transferred to Gist in the new year This follows Salvesen's decision to close its Evesham site (017-13 Nov).
The transfer of 96 jobs will take effect on 5 January, with Gist's Spalding depot taking over Salvesen's work and the drivers under the TUPE regulations.
A driver at Salvesen's depot says moves started in September, when drivers were told the company would be looking for 22 redundancies. They were then told that adopting a four-days-on/four-days-off shift pattern would eliminate the need for redundancies.
"We were told that the company was 'staying for the long term'," he adds. "But three weeks later we were told that 5 January was the last day we'd work here and they were negotiation with another party to take over the work."
The driver says Salvesen has lost a lot of work to Gist; he alleges that "management dragged its feet to get Christmas cover". "We are fed up. We feel they (management] knew what was happening from day one — we knew how the work was going. We would rather have been paid off and left to take our chances elsewhere."
A spokesman for Salvesen says the transfer is happening because volumes were "not sustainable". He claims that this is a trend in the chilled sector. The Transport & General Workers Union has been involved, and the company says it is "consulting with non-union employees". A spokeswoman for Gist confirms it Is taking over the primary contracts (Adams Pork and Butters Plants), and that it will operate from its own Spalding depot. Salvesen will retain a few drivers but most will transfer to GIST. "We are negotiating this through T&G under TUPE, and drivers will retain all their previous benefits," she promises.
• In the half-year results it published last week, Christian Salvesen describes its UK performance as "disappointing" and says it will be "exiting unprofitable business".
Turnover in the six months to 30 September rose by 4.8% to £430.9m, but pre-tax profit fell by 22.8% to £13.2m. The company reports that restructuring in Spain has progressed well, but at a slower pace in its German business.