Hundreds Maintain Vibrant Strike Action in Leicester

Today five hundred workers at a food processing factory in Leicester took their third day of concerted strike action to oppose the unjust policies imposed upon them by their profit hungry management.

Attacks on the workers based at RF Brookes factory, in South Wigston, unfortunately typify capitalist attempts to squeeze every last drop of profit from otherwise successful businesses by punishing their employees.

Until late last year the Leicester factory had been owned by chilled food behemoth, Premier Foods; a company who in their bid to increase short-term profits for their shareholders, readily disposed of 200 workers in September 2011.

However, after a successful takeover bid by Ranjit “Chicken King” Boparan the factory is now in the process of being ransacked by Boparan and his wife’s Birmingham-based company, 2 Sisters Food Group. A destructive course of action that is no anomaly for the Boparans’ as they followed a similar course of action when 2 Sisters’ took a controlling stake in Northern Foods last year.

At present a further 193 staff at RF Brookes are being coerced into redundancy. But this time round, thanks to the Boparans’ entrepreneurial wizardry, redundancy payoff’s are less than half than they were under Premier Foods management regime.

This was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, and has seen Boparan’s hardworking employees now threatening to break the Chicken King’s back: letting him know that his much touted efforts to create a £3.5 billion global food empire will not be built upon the devastation of their communities lives.

With a strong enthusiastic picket-line made up of hundreds of workers — many of whom have spent decades working at the factory and have never considered it necessary to take strike action — times have changed, and the fight-back against the job-slashing Chicken King is now in full force.

Tony Lewis, from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which was called upon by their members to support the 500-strong strike in Leicester, said:

“Basically this is about stopping the race to the bottom by food manufacturers, who in league with the multiples in their quest to maximize profits, are driving workers pay and conditions down.”

“We need all socialists and progressives to continue with the campaign nationally to fight this trend.”

Lewis added that the workers will continue striking for two days every week until mid-July, when they hope to obtain support from other workers. Indeed, union representatives at their sister plant in Rogerstone Park, in south wales, are currently having discussions with their management which are likely to lead to workers taking further industrial action against the 2 Sisters Food Group.

2 Sisters is not alone in this tragic capitalist race to the bottom, and Marks & Spencer’s, who currently serves as the soul recipient of RF Brookes’ food produce, are likewise cutting production costs by locating cheaper suppliers. This of course equates to a search for food suppliers with a low paid non-unionized workforce, be they domestic or foreign.

Evidently Boparan and his families food conglomerate have set their goals high, and aim to become the main supplier for the British chilled food industry. But to do this they have determined that they must continue their attacks against the very source of their profits, their workers.

The solution to this steadfast attack on workers is therefore, as Tony Lewis clearly states, for Workers to Unite! And along these lines, workers and union officials from across the country have already sent messages of support to their RF Brookes’ comrades.

For instance, Mark Servotka, the General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union noted that:

“PCS stands fully behind BFAWU members in their dispute over redundancy pay. These workers are the real wealth creators and the actions of RF Brookes’ management is disrespectful to their workforce. At a time of high unemployment and economic stagnation, it is vital that employers are deterred from laying off staff, and that those who are made redundant are compensated fairly.”

Both national and international solidarity is essential in this time of open class warfare, waged fiercely upon the poor by the rich. With renewed agency, the working class is now rising to defend their class interests, and by working through broader rank -and-file trade union organizations, like the National Shop Stewards Network, they are demanding that their unions support them in their ongoing bid to create a better fairer world for all.