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Bicester vote
Page 7
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IIII A furious row brewing at Bibby Distribution's Bicester depot is rumbling on with the news that URTU drivers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of being balloted over industrial action.
In clarification of last week's CM report stating that the Bibby drivers had been balloted on taking industrial action, United Road Transport Union regional officer Tony Southern says the vote was a consultative process to see whether the workforce wished to consider such a route. Two-thirds of the drivers who belong to URTU voted in favour of a second ballot According to Southern, all of the returned ballot papers were asking for a second vote.
The row broke out over several issues, not least pay and also the company's apparent refusal to recognise URTIJ at the Bicester depot, which handles nationwide distribution for brewing giant Budweiser (CM 29 May-4 June).
Bibby and Southam give differing versions of events, with the firm repeatedly stressing that the URTU do not have enough members at the depot to gain recognition. However, Southern believes that the latest ballot will demonstrate once and for all that this is not the case.
The decision not to recognise the union at Bicester is curious, as at the majority of Bibby's other sites it happily deals with both URTU and the Transport & General Workers Union.
Now Bibby will have to negotiate with Southern, if only to fend off any possible strike action. Southern says: "I'm still hopeful that we will be able to engage the company in some meaningful dialogue before it gets to that stage."
Nobody from Bibby was available to comment.