GMB Scotland members strike at Ayrshire vitamin plant

GMB Scotland members strike at Ayrshire vitamin plant

GMB Scotland members will strike after a dispute over bonus payments at a multinational’s nutrition plant in North Ayrshire.

Three weeks of continuous industrial action will begin at 6am tomorrow (Tuesday 18 April) at Royal DSM, in North Dalry, as around 50 maintenance workers fight for the incentive payments detailed in national pay agreements for engineering and construction workers.

Action will begin at the plant, manufacturing a range of vitamins for humans and animals, after two contractors, Altrad Babcock and Kaefer, failed to enter negotiations over the £2.37 an hour bonus payments.

GMB Scotland organiser Dominic Pritchard said: “This is not a dispute we want to have and this is not an industrial action we want to take. It is a last resort and one our members have been driven to because of the failure of management to even discuss with our members the incentive bonus payments due them.

“We hope they review their current position and allow negotiations to begin.”

More than 400 staff and around 150 to 200 contractors work at DSM at Dalry making vitamins and nutrients.

The action will begin just months after then first minister Nicola Sturgeon visited DSM, in Dalry, to break the ground in a new multi-millions pound facility – supported by publicly-funded Scottish Enterprise - to manufacture a methane-reducing feed additive for cattle to help curb methane emissions.

 ENDS

Contact: GMB Scotland Organiser Dominic Pritchard on 07587 405105 on or email GMB Scotland Communications at gmbscotcampaigns@gmb.org.uk