While the Icelandic tycoons Lýður and Ágúst Guðmundsson, the Bakkavör brothers, scoop up money, the workers in their factories have to seek the help of aid organizations. The board of the Efling Union condemns the brothers’ actions towards their staff, who have been on strike for seven weeks to demand decent wages. At the same time, the board expresses its solidarity with its British colleagues in the union Unite the Union.
This is the content of the resolution of the board of Efling that was approved yesterday. Representatives of the trade union Unite the Union came to Iceland last week to put pressure on the Bakkavör brothers to comply with the moderate demands of their members. Efling helped its colleagues then and will continue to do so, as long as necessary.
The resolution is below.
Icelandic exploiters tyrannize workers in the UK
While Icelandic billionaires profit, workers in British factories owned by them have to rely on aid agencies to feed themselves and their families. The board of Efling Union condemns the actions of the Bakkavör brothers, Lýður and Ágúst Guðmundsson, against the workers in Bakkavör’s factories in the UK. At the same time, the board expresses its unconditional solidarity and support for its colleagues in the British union Unite the Union, who have been on strike for weeks to demand better wages.
Over 700 members of Unite the Union at Bakkavör’s factory in Spalding, England, have been on strike for seven weeks. They demand a decent wage, but the wages that Bakkavör pays are poverty wages, which are nowhere near enough for a living. Unite the Union has demanded modest wage increases for its members, but Bakkavör ignores those demands. Instead, the company repeatedly violates the strike by recruiting people from other factories to take on the strikers’ jobs. The board of Efling expresses its disdain for the conduct of the managers of the multibillion-dollar conglomerate.
At the same time as the members of Unite the Union have had to stand twelve-hour shifts on a chilly factory floor doing hard work, for a pittance, Bakkavör’s managers sit in their offices and get paid hundreds of times the wages of the people on the floor.
The owners of the company, the Bakkavör brothers Lýður and Ágúst and others who own Bakkavör with them, have then paid themselves out of the company amounting to 28 billion ISK in the last five years. However, they are unwilling to pay those who actually create the value, the profit, anything other than a poverty wage.
The board of the Efling Union expresses its disgust at this behavior of the wealthy towards workers. Efling stands in solidarity with its colleagues in Unite the Union and their fair and just demands. Efling will use whatever force is possible to support and strengthen its British partners in their fight against the Icelandic tycoons.