Romec engineers set for strike action
9th June 2011
For immediate release
Romec engineers set for strike action
Over 550 engineers at facilities and maintenance firm Romec will take strike action on Friday 10th June and Monday 13th June and start a month long a call-out ban in an escalating dispute over bullying management.
The dispute began over management misuse of information from tracking devices in engineers' vans. Cases have emerged where managers have trawled detailed data to find tiny discrepancies in order to victimise, discipline or sack staff. Romec has since intimidated staff, unilaterally changed their working hours and CWU believes it is acting unlawfully over withholding pay and initiating redundancies without consultation.
Ray Ellis, CWU national official, said: "Romec is acting like Big Brother and has completely lost the trust of its staff. The regime of intimidation and culture of psychologically bullying engineers is making the working atmosphere intolerable for our members.
"We believe Romec is now acting unlawfully by withholding pay from staff after unilaterally changing their hours - for example from 8am - 4pm shifts to unsociable 12pm - 8pm shifts - if staff do not, or cannot, work the new hours. Their letters offering money if people leave the company are outside of redundancy regulations. All this is putting pressure on staff who are already being harassed by managers using tracker data.
"There are legal double standards here - if the union took unlawful action, the company could get a court injunction, but with the company's actions we will have to go through lengthy tribunal proceedings. We urge management to engage in meaningful talks, however our confidence in Romec keeping to agreements is very low."
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "Romec's aggressive behaviour towards experienced engineering staff is shocking. We urge the company to put its energy into resolving this situation instead of further intimidating staff. This will only be resolved through talks and that is where we want to be."
Strike action:
Friday 10th June (shift start time - 10pm)
Monday 13th June (shift start time - 10pm)
Picket line photo ops for Friday:
Bristol Mail Centre, Gloucester Road North, Filton, Bristol,
BS34 7ST, 11am
Cardiff Mail Centre, 220-228 Penarth Road, CF11 8TA, 7am
Edinburgh Mail Centre, 11 Cultins Road, EH11 4YY, 7-10am
London, Portcullis House, Westminster 10-11am
Portsmouth Mail Centre, Slindon Road, Portsmouth, PO1 1AA, 10am -
2pm
Picket line photo ops for Monday:
Dorset Mail Centre, Witney Road, Poole, Dorset, BH17 0AA, 10am
Cardiff Mail Centre, 220-228 Penarth Road, CF11 8TA, 7am
London, Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, 10am
Month long call-out ban:
4pm Thursday 9th June - 4pm Monday 11 July.
-ends-
Notes to editors:
Engineers returned a 92 per cent yes vote in April and have already taken four days of action in a call-out ban last month. The cumulative effect of the call-out ban is expected to have a severe impact on the company.
Talks facilitated by ACAS earlier in the year broke down.
Romec is an engineering and facilities company owned 51 per cent by Royal Mail and 49 per cent by Balfour Beatty. Their contracts include Royal Mail delivery offices and mail centres, Tesco and Sainsbury's supermarkets and the British Museum.
Ballot result:
Turnout: 75%
Yes for industrial action short of strike: 95%
Yes to strike action: 92%
For more information please contact:
Sian Jones, Press Officer, tel: 020 8971 7267, mobile: 0779 3314249, e-mail: sbjones@cwu.org
Kevin Slocombe, Head of Communications, mobile: 07714504413, e-mail: kslocombe@cwu.org
