Jiffy Employees Accept 4% Pay Raise, Ending Industrial Dispute

A wage dispute at a packaging manufacturing facility has concluded following the acceptance of a new agreement by its workforce. Employees at the Jiffy packaging plant located in Winsford, Cheshire, have agreed to a 4% pay increase, after an initial proposal of a 1.5% raise was rejected. Over 50 members of the Unite union engaged in 36 days of industrial action during July. The approved pay increase will be backdated to 1 March. Barrie Alen, technical director at Jiffy, stated: “We are pleased we reached an amicable decision.” Additionally, staff preserved all existing terms and conditions that had been jeopardized, including sick pay, the monitoring of workers’ toilet breaks, and modifications to bank holiday working practices, as reported by Unite. Further guarantees regarding redundancies and retraining have also been secured as part of the settlement. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham commented: “We backed our members at Jiffy in their fight for better pay and to protect their terms and conditions, and because they fought hard for what was rightfully theirs, they won the dispute. “They should be applauded for standing firm against this household name who tried so hard to short change them.” The union had previously indicated that the company, known for its padded envelopes and other packaging materials, generated nearly £6 million in gross profits according to its latest accounts, asserting it “can easily afford to make a decent pay offer to their employees.”