"Meat factory workers walk out amid 'poverty pay' dispute", 28 August 2023

Almost 200 workers at a Dumfries meat factory are striking amid a pay dispute they claim stems from a “poverty pay” offer.

Trade union Unite’s production, distribution and maintenance members based at food manufacturer Browns’ plant in Kelloholm, Sanquhar, began the strikes on Monday.

It comes after around 180 workers rejected a pay offer from the company, which they say equals the real Living Wage of £10.90 an hour.

The workers will participate in three days of industrial action over a period of three consecutive weeks...

While it declined to provide a statement, the firm claimed that Unite’s strike numbers were false, in an effort to show the business in a false light.

It alleged that 72 people went against the offer to increase pay, whereas 60 voted to accept it – with the “actual number” of strike action takers unconfirmed.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “Unite’s members at Browns have emphatically rejected a poverty pay offer.

“The Browns Food Group, which owns the Kelloholm factory, is cash rich. It can well afford to give its workers a far bigger slice of the tens of millions it has sitting in the bank...

The company is part of the wider Browns Food Group which is owned and controlled by the Godfrey family.

The wider group recorded a profit of £9.2m with £1.5m being paid out in dividends over the same time period...

The highest-paid director at Browns Food Group received a remuneration package totalling £223,000 in 2021.

Unite said that this is equivalent to nearly 10 times the pay of an average employee at Browns Manufacturing Limited...