Calor votes for strike
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by Ian Wylie • Drivers, plant operators and distribution workers at Calor Gas have voted by a narrow majority to take strike action against the introduction of personal contracts.
A ballot of 363 Transport & General Workers Union members at Calor Gas and Calor Transport resulted in a 126 to 115 vote in favour of action. According to the TGWU, employees who fail to sign personal agreements by next Monday will face the sack.
Around 1,200 clerical and administrative staff are currently employed by Calor on personal contracts and the company says it wants a single-status workforce. Calor spokesman David McKinlay says almost twothirds of the remaining employees have already signed the personal agreements. The contracts offer an increase in basic salary of up to 7%, in return for a decrease in holiday pay and increased obligation for seven-day working. The company says the increase in basic pay and the pension scheme which is "second to none in the industry" more than makes up for this (CM1-7 September).
It adds that the TGWU has no real mandate for strike action as only a third of the 363 workers covered by the union agreement voted in favour of industrial action. But the TGWU accuses Calor management of "kindergarten mathematics".
According to Calor, the TGWU has blurred the issue by drawing separate pay negotiations with 50 Calor Transport drivers into the dispute.