Membership triples, pay rises

Members of the Unite general union at logistics firm Rudolph & Hellmann have tripled their numbers and overturned a pay freeze.

At the start of 2012, only 37 of the 200 shop floor workers, 70% of who were originally from Eastern Europe, were members. Barbara Zbierzkowska, a Polish VDU operator at the plant, launched a recruitment campaign with the help of the union, which produced leaflets in Polish.

Zbierzkowska also became the night-shift rep and became involved in pay negotiations.

A proposed pay freeze by the firm brought workers flocking to union and in two months the membership had risen to 107. The members rejected the pay freeze and other offers, voting almost unanimously for industrial action. They finally accepted 3% over two years — the biggest rise in years.