Castle strikers warned
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The 200 drivers employed by Castle Cement have been threatened with the sack if they go on strike again.
This follows last week's 24hour day strike — the second since Castle Cement issued drivers with individual contracts which remove their right to negotiate through the Transport and General Workers Union. Most of the drivers are based at Castle Cement's plants at Clitheroe, Lancs and Ketton, Leics. So far none of them have accepted the new deal.
Management has written to the drivers that if they refuse to accept the new contracts by the end of October they will be deemed to have dismissed themselves.
TGWU national secretary Len McClusky says the strike action has been 100% solid: "We're obviously delighted with the response," he says, "and our members are determined to press ahead until the company takes a more reasonable attitude."
Castle Cement stresses it does not want to sack its workforce but needs more flexibility to cope with the recession in the building trade. it argues that new contracts retain a "high level" of pay and conditions.
Last week's one-day strike forced the company to use outside contractors and revive at least two depots it no longer uses. Castle Cement logistics director Johnathan Dale says: "There are plenty of highly skilled LGV drivers around at the moment who would frankly fall over themselves for our pay and conditions. That's not a threat to our drivers, but a fact of life. Most of all we want our own driving force — but we need increased efficiency.