Nov 04, 2024 (MarketLine via COMTEX) --
Employees at the Teesside manufacturing plant have accepted a 10% pay rise across two years.
Tata Consumer Products has reached a deal with workers at its Tetley tea factory in north-east England following a series of walkouts that began in September.
Employees have accepted a 5% pay rise "fixed each year for two years", the India-based tea and coffee manufacturer confirmed.
Around 150 workers voted to take strike action just over six weeks ago at the Tetley tea plant in Teesside over claims of real-term pay cuts.
The workers, which the GMB Union said were mostly female, staged a walkout over what they called "poverty pay".
Strikes took place on 20, 23 September, and 4 October. A dozen more strikes were expected to take place across October and November, but no specific dates had been set.
Commenting on the latest agreement, a spokesperson for Tata Consumer Products said: "a satisfactory resolution to the pay dispute at our Eaglescliffe tea factory has been achieved".
The deal was accepted by Unite and GMB unions and their members.
"We look forward to welcoming all our colleagues back into the business and working together for a productive future", Tata added.
GMB Organiser Paul Clarke said of the payment deal: "These workers have fought hard to get the pay rise they deserve - ten per cent over two years - which they've overwhelmingly accepted.
"GMB is pleased the company got back round the table to reach a deal.
"This offer shows what happens when workers stick together to defend their terms and conditions.
"Now they can get back to making the UK's favourite brew again."
This marked the first official set of strikes at the Tetley plant in Teesside. In August 2023, close to 200 workersAvoted to down toolsAover cuts to pay, though no strike dates were ever scheduled.
Tata Consumer Products came to the table with staff later that month, offering a 7% pay rise backdated to 1 April, which employees accepted, GMB said.
http://www.datamonitor.com
Republication or redistribution, including by framing or similar means,
is expressly prohibited without prior written consent. Datamonitor shall
not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions
taken in reliance thereon
COMTEX_459450262/2227/2024-11-04T09:35:01
Copyright (C) 2024 Datamonitor. All rights reserved
