Unite, the union confronting CNH at the company’s Basildon assembly plant has issued an update on the situation and indicated that industrial action is set to continue.
The dispute arose as New Holland offered a 4% pay rise as opposed to a 7.4% increase the union claims is due under a formula agreed in 2022 that linked the level of pay to annual inflation.
Three days of strike action per week are planned for June, amounting to 12 days of stoppage for the month which will, Unite has claimed, severely compromise the supply of New Holland tractors across the world.
Full support for Basildon workforce
The union said that it is determined to ensure that the company sticks to its promise.
General secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham said: “CNH will not get away with its broken pay promises. It is making massive profits and the only reason the company is reneging on the deal is out and out corporate greed.
“No amount of double-dealing or attempts to undermine the strikes will work; CNH Basildon workforce will not back down and they have the full power of Unite supporting them.”
There appears to be little common ground emerging between the two sides; Unite said it is determined to ensure that CNH keeps to its side of the agreement.
It claimed that CNH has done little to ease the situation other than putting together a deal which will not be revealed to the union until the action is called off.
Investors remain unconcerned
Meanwhile, at board level no reference to the the dispute was made at the latest earnings call where Scott Wine was making his last appearance as CEO before handing over to Gerrit Marx this summer.
However, the departing CEO did have this to say about stock levels within the overall delivery chain: “Despite somewhat significant production cuts, we still did not decrease dealer inventory at the levels we wanted to. So we’ve got work to do.”
Scott Wine also spoke of further actions such as combining and rationalising the commercial back office operations to reduce costs within the company’s organisation.
CNH does maintain that it continues to negotiate with the striking production staff in ‘good faith’.
There were no questions concerning the dispute at Basildon from the institutional investors invited to participate in the conference.
