STRIKES by low paid Pullmaflex workers could impact Toyota, Nissan, VW and Stellantis.
Around 200 workers employed at car seat manufacturer Pullmaflex’s Ammanford factory in Carmarthenshire are being balloted for strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today.
Many of the workers are only paid the national living wage and have been offered no pay rise for 2024 except to ensure they are not being paid below the legal minimum.
Workers on higher grades have had an imposed 3.8 per cent rise, which is a real terms pay cut, as the RPI rate of inflation was 4.9 per cent when the increase was due to be implemented in January.
Adding to tensions, is the fact that workers’ finances have been squeezed year after year due to wages continually falling behind inflation at the company.
The dispute is also about Pullmaflex’s attempt to make permanent a two-year temporary freeze of shift pay from percentage payments calculated on hours worked to one off payments. This breaks a collective agreement signed with Unite in 2022.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Pullmaflex is part of a multibillion-pound group and can more than afford to put forward a reasonable pay offer and keep to its word on shift premiums. Unite never accepts attacks on our members’ jobs, pay or conditions and Pullmaflex’s workforce have their union’s full support.”
Pullmaflex is owned by Leggett & Platt, which brought in revenues of $4.7 billion in 2023. It produces seating and lumber support mechanisms for automotive companies including Nissan, Toyota, Stellantis and Volkswagen.
The ballot for strike action opens today (2 September) and closes on 24 September. Industrial action would cause severe disruption to automotive supply chains.
Unite regional officer Andrew Pearson said: “Pullmaflex will be entirely responsible for the disruption that will be caused to the supply chains of Nissan, Toyota, Stellantis and Volkswagen if strikes go ahead. This dispute can be resolved without the need for industrial action but that requires the company to put forward an offer our members can accept.”
