VIDEO: Staff protest outside Worksop company in row over pay

Employees at a Worksop company staged a protest in a row over pay today.

Staff at Cinch Connectivity Solutions picketed outside the business on Shireoaks Road on Tuesday 14th April.

The workers say they deserve a pay rise to bring them up to the living wage of around £7.85 per hour.

Wendy Hunt, assembly operator, who has worked at Cinch for nearly 20 years, said: “We have got a good set of workers here and a lot of the shopfloor girls have been here over ten years.”

“We started our pay negotiations in January and the offer they made us was three per cent pay rise, but three per cent on nothing is rubbish. Three per cent on £7.20 puts up to just £7.40 an hour but we think we are worth more than that.”

“The work what we do is intricate work, we are just fighting for that little bit more to bring us up, so we have got a decent rate of pay. Some of them on the shopfloor can even top their money up with benefits so that is not good.”

Staff said that they believe themselves to be the lowest paid factory workers in the town except for those who work for agencies.

A spokeswoman for GMB told the Guardian they hope the situation is resolved quickly.

“I started off with 21 members but when we started the negotiations we now have 32 members,” Wendy added. “Hopefully we can come to some agreement to start negotiations again.”

“We have another strike arranged for next Tuesday but hopefully we are going to try and resolve everything. None of us want to lose any money because we are struggling as it is.”

Debra Tait, who has worked at the company for 21 years, said: “It is very said, I thought they would have come back with a better offer.”

June Robinson said: “We have got to come out and make a point.”

The Guardian has contacted Cinch Connectivity Solutions but they are yet to respond.

Click to watch the Guardian’s video.

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