Industrial action at glass manufacturing and logistics firm Encirc over health and safety concerns has escalated.

Over 100 Unite members at Encirc's Elton site had already walked out after the company announced plans to reduce headcount by almost 30 people. Workers at Encirc said losing this number of staff will lead to issues around health and safety.

Redundancies have now taken place, but workers believe the health, safety and wellbeing concerns of fewer members of staff have not been adequately considered by Encirc. Unite members have said they leave shifts physically fatigued and mentally drained and they fear this could lead to accidents at work.

As well as the planned strikes from 3 to 7 April, workers at Encirc will also walk out on their night shifts from 16 to 28 April, then from 9 to 15 May.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Further strike action will no doubt be disruptive to Encirc's operations - but it is entirely the fault of the employer.

"By implementing redundancies, Encirc put profits over people. Encirc must now provide meaningful solutions to workers' legitimate concerns and our members there continue to have our full support."

Encirc is a major manufacturer and filler of glass bottles for a wide variety of high-profile alcoholic and no/low-alcohol brands, which include Jameson, Baileys, Budweiser and Coors as well as supermarket branded wine. Escalating strike action will have a significant impact on the supply of bottles or containers from the Elton site, meaning there is likely to be shortages of popular brands in the next few months.

The firm is profitable - its parent company Vidrala recently reported full-year results for 2025, seeing a strong market performance with a net profit exceeding £192m.

Unite regional officer Andrew Johnson said: "Encirc management has failed to come back to talks around how to solve the problems with health, safety and wellbeing, so members there have felt they have had no choice but to escalate strike action.

"With so many dates of action, this will have a significant impact on Encirc's operations. There is still time for Encirc to halt this by returning to negotiations."

ENDS

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