Barbour: Strike is 'hugely regrettable'

Barbour has over 600 employees in the North East and in the last few years, we have created over 150 new jobs in the region as we’ve grown to become a brand that now operates in the worldwide marketplace. In order to compete as a brand on this international scale, we need to evolve with modern day working practices that are common in the industry in order to remain competitive and meet expanding customer demand.

This is why we need to introduce shift patterns that are commonplace in warehousing. These shift patterns, negotiated with the union, incorporate two shifts, covering a time period between 7am and 10.30pm. We have offered a generous 10% pay increase to move to this new way of working, which offers warehouse staff a higher rate of income for every hour that they work.

Many of our staff members are supportive of this and everyone has had time to plan and consider the shift changes since being notified of the proposals in May last year. Any changes will come into effect at the end of March this year.

It is hugely regrettable that this small number of union members have decided to take this divisive action and we will continue to work hard to resolve this during the consultation period.