From http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/
Cereal giant Kellogg’s has reported disruption to its carton supply due to the dispute at Mayr-Melnhof’s plant in Bootle as union Unite made new claims about treatment of workers.
The plant has been closed as a result of the industrial dispute, which centres on terms and conditions around a number of proposed redundancies, since 18 February, when the company’s management took the unusual step of locking staff out of the factory.
A spokeswoman for Kellogg’s told Packaging News: “Due to industrial action at one of our packaging suppliers, we are experiencing some short-term supply disruption to our cereal cartons.
“However, due to our proactive management of this issue; we do not expect any significant disruption to production at our Manchester and Wrexham plants.”
Industry sources have told PN that Kellogg’s has moved much of its work from MMP to a rival carton printer, thought to be Contego Packaging. However, neither Kellogg’s nor Contego has confirmed the speculation to Packaging News.
‘Disciplinary proceedings’
Trade union Unite, meanwhile, has said that it has still had no further talks with MMP UK management since its members at the Bootle facility voted 138-1 in favour of rejecting the company’s proposals that dated from early January.
It also claimed that the company has begun disciplinary proceedings against four members of the union who have been involved in the dispute.
In a statement, Unite said the company had taken the action “with the intention of sacking those members, and redundancy hearings have been heard for the six supervisors that are targeted for no obvious reason”.
The union also said that this week and next week, further meetings will take place between union members in MMP factories across Europe with workers from MMP UK aiming to gain further backing it the dispute.
MMP has consistently declined to comment on the dispute and had not responded to enquiries from PN as this article went to press.
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