Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodgers factory workers on strike

Workers at a biscuit factory which makes Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodgers have gone on strike.

Industrial action has begun at the Edinburgh site of biscuit factory Burton’s, when an overtime ban was launched.

More than 200 factory workers who are members of GMB Union will begin the first of three strikes over the company’s refusal to improve a 1.6 per cent pay offer from 2020/21.

A smaller, socially distanced picket line will be enforced from 6am until 5.59am on Thursday morning, complying with the UK industrial action laws and Scottish Government public health guidelines on Covid-19.

GMB Scotland organiser Benny Rankin said: “This dispute strikes at the heart of the debate around fair work and decent pay in the Scottish economy.

“The fact management claim to be shocked at our union’s claim for a rise that would put just 65 pence an hour more on the wages of the lowest paid shows you how out of touch they are.

“Burton’s somehow think it is credible to offer just 14 pence an hour more to their lowest paid, that’s derisory given many of their workers make the living wage and just over or under £10 an hour.

“After everything they have done for the business, and particularly against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic, our members are ready to fight to make their work better.”