East Riding school meals discord continues
Contract caterer Martin's Food Services and trade unions in Yorkshire's East Riding are involved in a dispute over proposed cuts to school meals workers' terms and conditions.
Hundreds of catering staff face having their current pension and sickness benefit schemes scrapped, retainer pay scrapped and holiday entitlement reduced. They also face a wage freeze until Martin's contract with East Riding Council ends in December 2003.
Pete Allen, regional organiser for the TGWU, said: "These are substantial cuts aimed at people who are low-paid already."
Martin's managing director Peter Martin said that the cuts were necessary to save about £300,000 a year, which East Riding Council will no longer contribute to the caterer's budget. He said the cuts were a temporary measure for two years and would affect only 250 of East Riding's 800 school meal staff.
He said: "We are approaching the end of a 90-day consultation period. We've put our plan clearly forward. Until now the trade unions have come up with nothing. If they have no alternative proposals, I can only go forward.
"In North-East Lincolnshire, schools don't have a hot meal service. Three hundred Initial employees lost their jobs last Easter and the local authority wouldn't carry on the service. It's a big problem. No-one wants to subsidise school meals. I don't want that situation to arise here.
"Across the company I've got 40% acceptance of the proposals. We now need to get acceptance at the remainder of the schools in the East Riding. If they have any thought for the future, they will accept.
"If there is no corporate contract, it is unlikely that loss-making schools will be able to provide a hot-meal service, and up to 300 full-time employees could lose their jobs."
Allen expected Martin's to give notice to terminate the present contracts and re-employ staff under the new terms and conditions at the end of this month.
The dispute is the latest twist in a rocky history of industrial relations since Martin's took over the £4.5m-a-year East Riding contract in January 1999.
