Airbus orders to go unfulfilled as major supplier hit by further industrial action over pay
Major aerospace supply contracts will go unfulfilled as workers at GKN are set to take further strike action this summer over pay.
Workers at the Filton site make parts and are the biggest supplier to Airbus who currently have a huge order book for civilian aircraft. With supplies from GKN endangered, orders will cease to be fulfilled leaving major airlines without expected new planes.
GKN is a supplier of airframe and engine structures, electrical wiring, and landing gear, with a presence on 90 per cent of today's aircraft. Around 900 Unite members at the Filton site in Gloucestershire make wings for the Airbus A320.
For years workers at GKN have seen their pay fall behind that of other nearby aerospace firms like Airbus and Rolls Royce. Many employees leave in search of better pay. GKN initially offered just a three per cent increase over one year, which was rejected by workers and later improved to just 3.3 per cent. This was also overwhelmingly rejected by the workforce demonstrating the strength of feeling that the offer falls far short of what is required.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "GKN's parent company CEO got the biggest bonus of any major company, yet it still sees fit to try and short-change our members.
 
“GKN needs to understand that Unite will not allow profiteering on the backs of workers. GKN is hugely profitable and can easily afford a proper pay rise for these highly skilled and valuable aerospace workers."
Unite members have already taken significant strike action and are now ramping up strikes with specific workers and grades across the engineering and maintenance departments that will bring the factory to a standstill.
New strikes will take place on 29, 30 June and 1 July as well as on 6, 7 and 8 July. In addition, a blanket overtime ban has also been put in place.
As a direct response to GKN attempting to undermine industrial action by moving staff onto a shift pattern with compulsory overtime, workers from across manufacturing will also strike for 48 hours every weekend from 4 July until 27 September.
Unite regional officer Shevaun Hunt said: "If GKN thinks our members will go quietly into the night they are mistaken. Unite will back our members in this dispute for as long as it takes to get a fair pay offer from a company rolling in money."