The workers of Bidfood have won the right to vote for a union voice with more than 1,800 staff now set to decide whether the company must allow GMB and Unite to negotiate on pay, terms and conditions.
GMB and Unite were recognised trade unions for Bidfood for more than thirty years. However, in January Bidfood announced that it would no longer be recognising the two trade unions representing its workers, after it stopped the longstanding recognition agreements and moved to an Employee Engagement Forum model.
The foodservice wholesaler claimed that collective bargaining was no longer reflective of the interests of many of its employees and not fully representative of those working within transport or our warehouse roles.
Read more: Bidfood withdraws from trade union agreements
However, employees will get the chance to vote the unions back in following a decision by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to accept the unions’ joint application for recognition.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said: “GMB members work hard delivering vital food supplies for the army, prisons, schools and high street restaurants across the UK. Bidfood bosses didn’t think these hard-working colleagues deserved a say on who and how they are represented at work – a basic right in any democracy.
“Now the workers have taken matters back into their own hands and organised enough support to win a legally binding ballot on recognition. They won’t be dictated to and finally get the chance to decide for themselves.”
A statement from Bidfood on the matter, said: “We can confirm that GMB and Unite have submitted a formal application to the CAC (Central Arbitration Committee) for statutory union recognition on behalf of transport employees at 3663 Transport Limited. The CAC has decided that the unions’ application meets the threshold to be considered for a formal vote. We await confirmation on the next steps from the CAC, however, we understand that this decision does not mean that the request for statutory recognition has been accepted and the CAC may call for an independent ballot.
Bidfood ended the voluntary collective bargaining unit (CBU) in January because we had found that in recent years that it was not reflective or representative of the interests of the majority of our employees working in our transport or warehouse teams. We have not seen any further evidence that changes our view on this.
However, we respect our employees’ right to choose whether they wish to be represented by a union, which is why we will fully support a fair and transparent vote. Regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to open, honest and direct communication and to ensuring our people’s voices are heard.
We firmly believe the best way to engage with our teams is by listening to them directly, not via third parties. We’re proud of the progress made through our Local and Regional Engagement Forums, as well as our newer National Wholesale Employee Council and National Health and Safety Council. These groups, made up of volunteers from across our operations, ensure broad representation from all sites.
Direct engagement remains our preferred approach, and we feel that these forums provide a more inclusive, responsive, and effective way to address the issues that matter most to our people.”
