‘Cash-rich’ management can afford better offer, says Union.
More than 800 employees of Defence Support Group (DSG) began a four-day strike yesterday in an ongoing dispute over pay.
Members of the Unite union said a recent non-pensionable offer of a one per cent rise in wages amounts to a pay cut in real terms and was the “final act of betrayal” from the company.
This week’s strike follows two days of industrial action in October.
The group, which employs around 2,800 staff to maintain, repair and procure military equipment for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is due to be sold to the private sector next year, as part of the Coalition’s 2010 strategic defence review.
Unite national officer for the MoD and government departments, Mike McCartney, said feelings among union members were running high over the “insulting” pay offer and their “uncertain future.”
“The current DSG management can afford to give a decent pay rise to the workers who have made DSG such a success story in supporting our armed forces,” he said.
“It’s time management got back around the table and negotiated a meaningful settlement.”
Five main military sites will be affected by the walkout, including Bovington, Dorset; Catterick, North Yorkshire; Colchester, Essex; Donnington, Shropshire; Stirling and Warminster, Wiltshire, but a spokesman for the MoD said its operations would carry on as normal.
"It is disappointing that Unite is pressing ahead with strike action over a proposed 1 per cent pay rise, which is in line with the offer to the wider civil service.
"The public can rest assured this industrial action will have no impact on ongoing military operations or capability."
The strike will end at 23:59 GMT on Thursday 20 November.