Shortage of dips, soups and wraps blamed on strike

Shortages of dips, soups and wraps on supermarket shelves are due to strike action at a food production plant, a union said.

Shortages of fish roe dip taramasalata have been reported by shoppers this week and Unite said further shortages were likely due to industrial action at Bakkavor in Spalding, Lincolnshire.

Regional officer Sam Hennessy said, as a result of the strike, "there are now significant shortages happening in many supermarkets up and down the country".

A spokesperson for Bakkavor said there was a "short disruption to our supply of taramasalata" and production would "step up" at other sites to meet consumer demand for the dip.

Soup supplies had been affected "as an isolated product category", but "work is in hand to resolve this very quickly," they added.

The company said taramasalata production would be up and running next week but no other dips had been affected.

The company confirmed about 400 staff, one-third of its Splading workforce, were currently on strike in a dispute over pay.

Mr Hennessy said: "The power is with the employer to come to staff with a decent pay offer that will be accepted," and added Bakkavor's position was a "simple case of corporate greed".

However, Bakkavor's chief people officer, Donna-Marie Lee, said: "We have engaged the union in discussions since the start, and our CEO met with them recently out of a genuine desire to resolve the issue."

She said a discretionary bonus of £350 per person and an above inflation pay rise were tabled for workers at the Spalding site, but rejected by the union.

Mike Edwards, CEO at Bakkavor, said: "The union has a right to campaign, but our responsibility as a business – to our colleagues, customers, shareholders and to the communities in which we are a major employer – is to be sustainable, and fair, for the long term."

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