TMD Friction Hartlepool strikes off after revised pay deal
Strike action by more than 180 Hartlepool workers employed at TMD Friction, which make brakes for OEMs, has ended after Unite secured a two-year 11 per cent pay deal.
Strike action by more than 180 Hartlepool workers employed at TMD Friction, which make brakes for OEMs, has ended after Unite secured a two-year 11 per cent pay deal.
Pay strikes intensified at TMD Friction’s Hartlepool factory, according to Unite, the UK’s leading union, on 23 February. Around 150 workers began strike action over pay earlier this month. That number has since increased to over 180 as more workers join the union. The workers have now moved to continuous indefinite strike action, risking brake product shortages for TMD’s partners, which include Rolls Royce, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Bentley and McLaren.
Unite members at TMD Friction’s Hartlepool brake factory are staging strike action early in 2024 over “low levels of pay being offered by their employer”. Nearly 150 members of the Unite trade union will down tools. An initial wave of five days of action begins on Tuesday 2 January, but the union hasn’t ruled out further strikes.
Pirelli has reaffirmed its commitment to “maintaining industrial operations” at both its Carlisle and Burton-on-Trent UK factories after unions suggested the company was about to close its MIRS robotic production line in Burton. According to Unite, which represents all 280 members of the Burton tyre factory workforce, Pirelli has proposed cutting 80 jobs. In a statement published on 11 February 2021, Unite criticised Pirelli for “not taking up the furlough scheme for these workers, instead of pushing ahead with the redundancies.”
Michelin’s tyre plant in Dundee, Scotland has produced its last tyre. Although the facility wasn’t scheduled to close until mid-year, Michelin now says it won’t resume operations after the coronavirus crisis – indeed, it considers doing so “unviable and unwise”. The decision has been taken in agreement with the Unite union, and the company will pay plant workers all wages they’re entitled to through to the planned closure date.
Honda has confirmed that it will be closing its Swindon plant in 2021. The closure will cause the loss of 3,500 jobs. Honda says that it has reached the conclusion that no viable alternatives to the proposed closure of the Swindon plant have been identified.
The UK didn’t participate in the MSTyre15 project, yet we’ve gained a better understanding of tyre labelling non-compliance here thanks to freedom of information (FOI) requests made by Unite, the trade union representing many employed within the automotive sector in Britain and Ireland. In separate FOI responses, it was confirmed to Unite that no legislation exists to enforce Regulation (EC) No. 1222/2009 and that mislabelled tyres have been sold in the UK.
A maximum of 125 jobs will be cut at Sensata’s factory in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. Company representatives clarified their plans in response to earlier reports suggesting as many as 275 jobs were at risk. The latest information is that, while 275 employees have been told that their positions are “at risk”, the number of job losses will be capped at 125. A company spokesperson confirmed this in a statement in answer to Tyres & Accessories questions on the matter:
Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, has won a long–running campaign for the right of delivery drivers to use an employers’ toilets while conducting deliveries. From this week employers in control of non-domestic premises are obliged to allow people who are not their employees but use their premises to access toilets and washing facilities.
Staff representatives and Michelin managers at the French tyre maker’s Ballymena, Northern Ireland truck tyre factory are discussing redundancy packages following the news that the factory is to close in mid-2018. Michelin representatives declined to comment on individual cases, but local press reports suggest particular offers have already been made.
Pirelli has announced its support for the Apprenticeship Charter from Unite and TUC. On Thursday 01 October, Pirelli representatives signed the Apprenticeship Charter at the firm’s Carlisle facility in front of members from Unite, TUC and Cogent as well as a selection of current Pirelli apprentices and managers within the engineering, maintenance and quality departments.
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