JACOBS DOUWE EGBERTS (JDE) workers in Oxfordshire have voted to hold a strike ballot over plans to fire and rehire nearly 300 staff, Unite said today.

The union said its members in Banbury voted by 96 per cent to hold a ballot on full-scale industrial action with the option to strike after the Dutch-owned coffee company issued notice of dismissal and engagement for 291 employees.

It comes despite JDE reporting a record 9.1 per cent growth last year as coffee drinking boomed during lockdown.  

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said the move is an “unethical and immoral” assault on members’ pay and conditions.

“[This] is a despicable attack on our hard-working key workers who have committed themselves so tirelessly throughout the Covid-19 crisis,” he said.

A TUC poll in January found that nearly 10 per cent of workers across the country, including GMB members at British Gas, have been told to reapply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions — or face the sack.

Rob Williams, JDE Banbury plant director, said: “We remain ready to meet with the union committee and continue to urge them to constructively participate in the consultation process to reach a mutual agreement that benefits both our associates and the business.”