Burke to join strikers at Wyndeham Impact

Unite members, including assistant general secretary Tony Burke, will join Wyndeham Impact employees on the picket line tomorrow (16 September).

Earlier this month, Wyndeham revealed proposals to close Impact, but prior to that, members had been striking at the Basingstoke site since May, over "significant" changes to terms and conditions.

According to the union, some workers gave up as much as £85 a week to help the company when the economic crisis first hit and were expecting this to be made good. A statement from the union added: "Instead they have endured wage freezes and compulsory redundancy".

This Friday's strike, which marks the 20th week of walkouts, will be in protest at the closure of the plant, as well as the changes to working conditions.

A two-hour walkout is also planned for Monday (19 September).

Burke said: "These workers who have made a massive sacrifice to their pay to support the company feel totally let down by the management. We will not stand by and let Wyndeham Impact ride roughshod over our members' pay, terms and conditions and benefits and will do everything we can to support the workers during this very difficult time.

"Wyndham Impact was caught up in the Icelandic banking crisis and workers tried to help them - this is how they were rewarded. This is why Unite warned members not to take pay cuts as some companies were clearly exploiting the crisis. We have evidence of where companies promised to make good pay cuts, but keep coming back for more."