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Union votes for industrial action at Budweiser brewery
Following reports of a vote at the end of the last month, members of the GMB Union at AB InBev’s brewery in Preston have decided to take industrial action in protest against the dismissal of a worker in June.
AB InBev employees who are part of the GMB Union are set to take industrial action after Paul Morley, a former senior health and safety representative, was sacked on 13 June this year.
At the time it was claimed that Morley was dismissed for “refusing a reasonable management request”.
The union members believe that Morley was unfairly dismissed after questioning health and safety policy following the introduction of a new initiative designed to speed up the brewing process.
As a result, on 13 August, they plan to start a continuous overtime ban in an effort to get Morley reinstated.
Shaun Buckley, GMB regional organiser, said: “GMB members at In-Bev are taking industrial action in solidarity with Paul Morley as they press for him to be reinstated.
“For Paul to be dismissed when he was looking out for the health and safety of his colleagues is a scandal and our members are taking the fight for his job right to the company”.
In response, AB InBev has reiterated its statement that Morley “was not dismissed for raising health and safety concerns”.
The statement continued: “As a responsible brewer and business, health and safety is our number one priority. While we can’t go into detail on individual or ongoing employee cases, we want to emphasise that the employee in question was not dismissed for raising health and safety concerns.
“We take our commitment to health and safety seriously and ensure that all processes adhere to our high standards, as well as to legal requirements. The safety of our processes has been confirmed using a certified assessment tool from the UK body, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).
“As part of our focus on the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, we will continue to have a dialogue with trade union representatives”.