PSA Peugeot Citroen workers at the company’s Ryton Peugeot 206 plant near Coventry in central England voted on Tuesday to strike, joining other union members who on Monday rejected a pay offer from France’s largest car maker, Bloomberg News reported.
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The Amicus union’s chief negotiator Duncan Simpson told Bloomberg that about 52% of union members who cast ballots voted to reject a two-year pay offer which represents a 3.6% wage hike in the first year.
Ford last November reached a two-year pay agreement with UK unions that would increase wages by 7%, Bloomberg News noted.
“We will be holding meetings with union representatives” to determine the scope of any stoppages, Simpson told Bloomberg News. “I will also be writing to the company suggesting they re-open negotiations.”
Amicus would consult with the Transport & General Workers Union before setting dates for industrial action, Simpson told Bloomberg.
Peugeot spokesman Mark Broughton told Bloomberg News that any work stoppages would have “serious consequences” for workers “in terms of lost earnings and potentially future investment” at the Ryton factory.
The one time Rootes Group and Chrysler UK plant at Ryton makes the Peugeot 206, including all right hand drive and station wagon versions, and employs about 3,700 workers. The factory added a fourth production shift in December that will increase output to 230,000 cars in 2003 from 200,000 cars last year.
