Workers at a North Staffordshire factory have entered their ninth week of strike action and have taken to the streets of Cheadle to reinforce support.

Employees at Klarius Products have already been striking for 16 weeks over a row over sick pay.

It resulted in a fresh offer from the employer to try to settle the dispute. But it has been rejected by members of the Unite union and the four-week walkout begins on Monday, November 6.

Many of the workers reported that Klarius has not changed their position over sick pay and would continue the action until an agreement is reached. In their latest action members of the picket line held a rally on Chapel Street car park.

Worker Stuart Budd, who has worked at Klarius three times, more recently joining in 2020 said "I think it's gone on for too long and I don't think there has been a great deal of communication. We're not fighting for anything, we're trying to negotiate the stuff.

"What's been happening is the sick pay has been taken away and there was also a referendum prior to the industrial action asking whether the workforce wants this new sick pay scheme coming in, 97 per cent said no and it was still put in. The company and management wanted ideas from the workforce, how we could best implement this new sick pay. We gave them lots of ideas but they just stuck to this two weeks."

The workers began a series of strikes in September in response to Klarius' threats to fire staff (Google).

The workers began a series of strikes in September in response to the company's threats to fire and rehire them and will strike everyday until 1 December. Workers have recently rejected an offer from the company that would have seen their sick pay reduced over three years to just two weeks from five.

One long standing worker who did not want to be named for fear of retribution said: "This is the first strike at Klarius and this is the ninth week which is unbelievable, people want to go and work, they don't want to be stood in the cold. The situation is not fair, especially at a time when people are struggling financially."

Another long standing worker, Phillip Emery added: "They have basically abused the most loyal people who have worked there. They've made it a two tiered system, they call it levelling up but it's levelling us down."

Unite have said that their members have sacrificed terms and conditions in previous years in order to retain the original sick pay scheme. Unite regional officer Melvyn Palmer said: "Our members' determination is rock solid. 

"Klarius should be levelling up its two-tier workforce, not levelling down. The dispute will not be resolved until the company takes the fire and rehire threats off the table and stops trying to attack its workers' sick pay."

A Klarius Products spokesman said: "The new employment terms offered by Klarius to its' personnel have actually introduced sick pay benefits for 70% of shopfloor employees when they were previously paid SSP only. The new terms afford all employees up to two weeks full sick pay before Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) comes into effect.

"Most manufacturing organisations pay SSP only to shopfloor employees. Klarius have committed that where illness is serious or critical, employees will be supported over and above the contractual terms and we have a strong track record of regularly providing this support.

"We have over 300 members of staff working within the Klarius Group of companies and with only a small percentage involved in the Industrial Action, this bears testimony to the truly positive, supportive and collaborative work culture we have within our business."

READ MORE: Popular market to return to Stoke-on-Trent in time for Christmas 

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