By Alan Richardson

WORKERS AT the Grampian Foods plant in Coupar Angus have voted to take industrial action over the continuing pensions row.

The 100 workers have voted by a margin of three to one to take union-backed action, although they have ruled out a strike at this stage.

Details of exactly when action will be taken and what form it will take have yet to be revealed.

The move comes after the Transport and General Workers Union warned its members proposed new pension provisions would leave them worse off than under the present company pension scheme, a claim denied by Grampian Foods.

Chris Kaufman, T&G national secretary, said, “This is a company that is tampering with pensions, which is unjust, unfair and unwarranted. Our members are very clear that they mean to defend their pensions and stand up for their right to what is, after all, their money.”

Workers in the company’s biggest plant, at Haverhill in Suffolk, will walk out in protest on Friday for a one-day strike which the T&G expects to hit food stocks in supermarkets.

A spokesman for Grampian Foods said yesterday that although the firm had been made aware last week of the ballot result and Friday’s strike, it had received no information about action on other sites, including Coupar Angus.

“We were advised by the union late on Friday of their intention to take strike action at one site and we are looking at the legality of that strike because we believe it may be illegal.”

Around 1000 T&G members were balloted across the country—at Coupar Angus and Haverhill as well as factories at Cambuslang, Sandycroft in North Wales and Llangefni on Anglesey—and voted by a margin of three to two to take action.

The T&G has argued the pension changes are arbitrary and Grampian Foods has failed to give adequate information as to why the present final salary scheme should end, but Grampian Foods counters that it has provided independent financial advice and the new scheme will protect employees while aiding the company.