Food wholesaler and distributor Bidfood is facing strike action and delayed deliveries, unless it reverses its “disgraceful” decision to derecognise the two unions which represent its workers, Unite and GMB warned this week.

However Bidfood is standing by its decision, accusing Unite and GMB of making claims about its derecognition decision that are “highly inflammatory and untrue”.

The dispute centres around Bidfood’s move to end its recognition of both unions last Friday (17 January).

GMB accused the company of becoming “P&O on the road”, referencing the ferry operator that became notorious in 2022 for its “hire and fire” policy which saw it sack 800 staff and replace them with agency workers

The unions said the announcement was made with no previous notice given to either union and that the derecognition took place with immediate effect.

Unite is warning its members that the move is a precursor to attacks on workers’ pay and conditions.

Bidfood is one of the UK’s largest food distributors and its clients include schools, prisons, the army, Subway, Five Guys and Manchester United. 

The majority of Unite’s members are based at Bidfood’s depots in Battersea, Birmingham, Plymouth and Salisbury.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Bidfood is guilty of union busting pure and simple and Unite will not tolerate such behaviour at any level.

“Unite’s focus is always on defending its members and Bidfood needs to reverse its perverse decision or face the inevitable consequences.”

Unite national officer Adrian Jones added: “Bidfood’s actions are disgraceful and Unite is considering all options about how to respond including industrial action. 

“The company’s clients will be alarmed they they could be facing a spring of cancelled deliveries, due to industrial action and should be demanding to know exactly what Bidfood is playing at.”

GMB also condemned Bidfood’s decision this week. Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “GMB, Unite and Bidfood have successfully worked together to improve workers’ pay, terms and conditions since at least the 1990s. 

“Our members work hard delivering vital food supplies for the army, prisons and schools across the UK. 

“They deserve the protections union recognition brings. 

“Without us, bosses will be able to do what they want, ripping up their contracts and enforcing worse terms and conditions. 

“Bidfood faces becoming P&O on the road and GMB members won’t stand for it. All options are open, including an industrial action vote.” 

Bidfood denied the unions’ claims this week. In a statement the company confirmed that after “careful consideration”  it had derecognised the union.

It added: “This was not a decision we made lightly, however we’ve found in recent years that the Collective Bargaining Unit (CBU) is not reflective of the interests of the majority of our employees and is therefore not fully representative of those working within transport or our warehouse roles, with a number of employees voicing concerns and frustrations over long delays in resolving issues.   

“Following the highly inflammatory and untrue claims made in the releases that GMB and Unite have issued, we want to make it clear that we are in no way threatening a ‘fire and rehire’ of our employees, nor are we planning to change their terms and conditions.

“It’s really disappointing to see the unions attempt to scaremonger in order to foster mistrust and doubt among our employees. This further cements our view that this is not the collaborative approach we aspired to have between ourselves and the trade unions. 

“In order to best represent and support our warehouse and transport community, it’s important for us to work with our teams directly through our Employee Engagement Forums, which we believe represent a wider range of our employees’ views across all sites, and are a more agile, effective and collaborative way to listen, discuss and resolve matters that are important to our employees, in real time.   

“We really value our people and pride ourselves on being a people business. We take the importance of listening to and supporting them incredibly seriously, and we value contributions and feedback from all of our employees.

“We remain committed to ensuring an open approach to discussing and tackling issues and wholeheartedly believe this is a positive step for our business and our people.”

The unions are calling on Bidfood workers who are not in the union to join one of the two unions.

In a message to Bidfood workers GMB said: “Bidfood are attempting to boot the unions out of the workplace, they want to drive down your terms and conditions - and they need to get rid of your union representation to do this. Don’t let them.”

It pointed to the improved conditions the unions had helped achieve at Bidfood over the past two years, including a reduction in hours and improved safety standards for drivers, improved pay awards, freezer warm up breaks, and a rejection of Bidfood’s attemp to bring in flexible warehouse working

It warned that workers should expect union derecognition to bring cuts to sick pay and annual leave entitlement and declining health and safety standards

It added: “Bidfood will try to blame the union, but this has been a decision years in the making with the simple aim of wanting to squeeze more profit out of driving down your working conditions, terms and conditions and pay. 

“You all now have a choice, you can let them get away with this or you can take a stand.”