Marshalls drivers to strike as overtime pay dispute continues

Drivers at Marshalls will hold a strike next week over an ongoing overtime pay dispute.

Around 110 drivers were balloted over the strike action last month, over a conflict which arose from an alleged discrepancy in overtime pay.

Drivers at 14 of Marshalls’ manufacturing sites in the UK receive time and a third for overtime hours, while manufacturing staff receive time and a half.

The strike will begin at 1.00am on Monday 13 June, and last for 24 hours.

Unite said that the planned strike action could escalate further if the Marshalls management continued to “dig its heels in” over discussions.

The union added that the company’s two largest customers – Jewsons and Travis Perkins – could face disruption as a result of the strike.

Unite national officer for construction and allied trades, John Allott said: “We would urge the company to engage meaningfully with Unite to resolve the dispute and improve industrial relations for the long-term.”

Marshalls group HR director Susie Fehr said that the union “had not communicated directly with Marshalls” over the dispute, but chose “to move directly to a ballot”.

She added: “Marshalls and Unite have a formal joint agreement which sets out how such issues should be handled, however the union has chosen to ignore this.”

Further conflict arose between the parties last month when a manager allegedly swore at employees taking part in the ballot.

John Allot, Unite national officer for building trades, said: “Already the tone of the dispute has turned bitter as this manager in Cambridgeshire has already allegedly sworn at a group of our members for engaging in their legitimate right to hold a strike ballot.”