Allied Bakeries staff strike to hit pancake production

Talks between Allied Bakeries and the trade union, Unite, broke down on Friday

About 250 Northern Ireland bakery workers have gone on strike in a dispute over pay.

Talks between Allied Bakeries and the trade union, Unite, broke down on Friday.

Allied Bakeries is best known in Northern Ireland for brands like Kingsmill and Sunblest.

The union has said strike action will coincide with the ramp-up of production of pancakes at the Castlereagh Road site ahead of Pancake Tuesday.

The company that owns Allied Bakeries said there were "deeply disappointed have rejected our latest pay offer in favour of industrial action".

The staff began their strike at 06:00 GMT on Sunday.

Brands under the Allied Bakeries umbrella include Kingsmill and Sunblest

Allied Bakeries is owned by Associated British Foods - an international company that owns a range of brands across different sectors, including Primark, and posted pre-tax profits of about £1.4bn last year.

But according to its latest accounts, Allied Bakeries was operating at a loss, which had been reduced because of cost-cutting measures.

The accounts also indicated lower reported sales.

Susan Fitzgerald, Unite's regional co-ordinating officer, said the strike would "significantly impact pancake production" and that the "blame for this entirely avoidable outcome lies squarely with the bosses".

Employees in the bakery sector work unsocial shifts and are required to meet challenging bonus targets, Unite has said

Unite has called on the public to back the striking workers.

"Workers in the bakery sector are low paid, only making up a living income by working unsocial shifts and meeting challenging bonus targets - basic pay is little above the bare legal minimum," said Ms Fitzgerald.

"In recent weeks, workforces at Hovis and Allied Bakeries each voted overwhelmingly for strike action to win a decent pay uplift.

"While Hovis bosses averted a pending strike action by providing a 4% uplift, those at Allied Bakeries are offering only 2.5%."

In a statement on Sunday, Allied Bakeries said it was proud of its reputation "as a long-term and responsible local employer" and said contingency plans were in place.

Unite said strike action will coincide with the ramp-up production of pancakes

"All employees involved are paid at rates above that recommended by the Living Wage Foundation and benefit from company subsidised pensions.

"We have increased our rates of pay every year for the past 10 years and will do so again this year.

"We do not expect supply of our core Sunblest, Kingsmill and own-label pancakes to be significantly impacted as we engage with our employees to resolve this dispute," it added.