Beer and soft drinks supplies to pubs and bars across Scotland have been affected today (11th September) due to a one day strike by Kuehne + Nagel Drinks Logistics (KNDL)delivery drivers.
Unite talks with the firm, which delivers beer and soft drinks ranging including Foster’s, Heineken and Kronenbourg lagers, John Smith’s bitter, Strongbow cider and Britvic soft drinks, failed to avert the 24-hour strike. The dispute is over working conditions.
Independently owned pubs and clubs as well as premises run by Trust Inns and Wetherspoon have been affected.
Unite are concerned about plans by KNDL to create three ‘superhub’ delivery centres at Livingston, Thatcham and Wakefield, which they say would lead to “significant jobs losses”.
Despite prolonged discussions between the parties, an agreement over terms and conditions has not yet been met which led to the strike today. Until the issue is resolved an overtime ban has been implented with workers also ‘working to rule’ until further notice.
A spokeswoman for KNDL told Dram, “We have been consulting with employees for a number of years regarding the need to adapt the business model and enhance service offerings to meet the challenges of the declining on trade drinks market.”
The company say they have engaged in “lengthy consultation” with Unite regarding the proposed changes to its secondary distribution network.