AstraZeneca staff to strike over pension cuts

The UK union is protesting at plans to end the final pension scheme

AstraZeneca is reviewing its position after UK trade union members at the company voted to strike over cuts to pension benefits.

A meeting of shop stewards later this week will fix dates for industrial action unless AstraZeneca “come back to the negotiating table with meaningful terms”, said the GMB union.

The union said 70% of its members who voted in a ballot supported its call for action after AstraZeneca’s “draconian proposals to, in effect, end its final salary pension scheme for 2,500 staff based mainly at Macclesfield”.

AstraZeneca insists that strike action would not be in anyone’s best interests and says that its benefits package remains attractive.

“AstraZeneca remains committed to providing a very competitive level of pension benefit and the changes made ensure all employees continue to have access to pension arrangements that compare favourably to other organisations in the UK,” it said. 

However, the GMB believes the ballot result indicated the depth of feeling to the contrary among workers. “This clear mandate for a strike in the midst of the current economic circumstances ought to be a wake up call to Astra Zeneca to resume negotiations with GMB,” national officer Allan Black said.

“They have to understand that unless they take this opportunity then strike action will be the consequence,” he warned.

But AstraZeneca says it is looking at information provided by the GMB and is at pains to suggest that the action has little support.

“We understand that 165 employees have voted in favour of action, which represents about a third of the GMB members and less than 2% of the UK employee population,” it said in a statement.

AstraZeneca’s Macclesfield site is the manufacturer’s second largest worldwide and the GMB says it has “enlisted the support of unions across Europe and beyond”.

The union said talks on the company’s pension proposals were held over a three-month period earlier this year but AstraZeneca’s stance had not shifted.