Staff at Newtownards Lakeland Dairies factory strike over pay offer

Richard Murdoch, Tom Donaldson, Danny Milby, John Roddie, Jeffrey McConnell and Paul Ferguson on the picket line

Workers at a factory in Newtownards are taking seven days of strike action after failing to reach a pay deal with management.

Staff at LE Pritchett and Company, an arm of Lakeland Dairies, want a 9% pay increase.

The company offered an 8.2% increase, which has been rejected by unions.

Lakeland Dairies said it "regrets" the decision taken by the union to proceed with the action despite "a significantly improved offer".

Pritchett's processes long-life milk products like UHT milk, and the union said the strike will have an "immediate impact on the availability of UHT milk products in local supermarkets".

Unite officer Albert Hewitt said: "Bills aren't coming down, shopping isn't coming down in price and electric and gas are going up".

"People are on the breadline; they can't afford to not ask for a 9% pay rise to reflect the rising cost of living.

"Any company paying just minimum wage, rather than a real living wage, should be ashamed of themselves."

Gary Hamilton said it was a complex job and staff deserved to be paid better

LE Pritchett's union representative Gary Hamilton said a 9% pay increase would bring the lowest grade worker up to the 2024 real living wage, which is £11.44 an hour.

"Learning the machinery, doing sterilisations and chemical training - there's a lot involved in doing the job," he said.

"We're out for seven days at the moment. We'll go back to work next week, but there is more disruption planned."

In a statement, Lakeland Dairies said it is "aware of the industrial action being taken by union members at the Newtownards production facility, but regrets the decision taken by the union to proceed with the action despite a significantly improved offer from Lakeland Dairies prior to the strike notice".

"We firmly believe that the offer put forward by the co-operative would provide an appropriate uplift that is also reflective of overall competitive market and economic conditions," it said.

"We have formally requested Unite to allow its members to ballot on the latest offer. Thus far they have not done so.

"Regarding our ongoing operations, we have robust business continuity and processing plans in place to deal with any potential disruption. This is to ensure all high-quality milk is collected from our farm families and processed to serve the needs of our customers in a business-as-usual manner."