The organisation said its members were incensed over detrimental changes to terms and conditions at the packaged frozen meats company, including reductions in paid breaks and holidays.
The union is also angry about what it claims are plans to write its recognition agreement out of employees’ contracts.
Workers at ABP Wessex can gain extra days for their holiday entitlement and Unite has also reacted against attempts by its management to ‘buy out’ those days.
Crunch talks
Crunch talks between union reps and management are being held tomorrow (May 20) in a bid to avert industrial action in response to these issues.
“These proposed changes are detrimental to the workforce,” said Unite regional officer Sarah Mitchell. “Our members have unanimously rejected the unacceptable changes and requested that we proceed to an industrial action ballot.
“We have a further meeting with the management tomorrow at which we hope to reach an agreement, thus negating the need for industrial action.
‘Acceptable and fair settlement’
“However our members are strongly committed to getting an acceptable and fair settlement – and this includes taking industrial action.”
In a statement, ABP said: “We are in discussions with our staff representatives at Northallerton and are not in a position to comment at this time.”
ABP Wessex has a 150-strong workforce, is based at Northallerton, in North Yorkshire, and was formerly Dalepak.
It produces pork, lamb, Aberdeen Angus, flavoured and a wide range of shaped premium and economy burgers, grill steaks, mince and meat-free products for a variety of foodservice and retail customers.
ABP Food Group announced a partnership with animal genetics firm Genus last week to harness DNA identification and advanced breeding techniques to deliver more sustainable and higher quality meat to consumers.