Workers at HMS Sultan, HMS Excellent and Fort Blockhouse 'face pay cut or sacking'

More than 500 workers employed by ESS, part of Compass Group, are being faced with cuts in their working weeks and reductions in working hours.

Cooks and cleaners at sites including HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, and HMS Excellent in Portsmouth, stand to lose up to £1,200 a year.

The company is calling for employees to agree to being paid for 49 or 50 weeks a year, rather than 52.

Trade union Unite’s lead officer for defence workers, Caren Evans, said: ‘The behaviour of ESS is simply appalling.

‘On what planet is it acceptable to tell low paid, long serving workers that they must sign up or be sacked.

‘This company has form when it comes to making low waged workers pay but we saw them off before and we will do so again.

‘The Ministry of Defence needs to start asking questions of itself and whether it is happy with the way one of its key contractors is treating its workforce.

A similar proposal from ESS in 2017 ended up going to an employment tribunal.

There, the court ruled that what the company was doing was illegal.

A Compass Group spokeswoman said: ‘Like all businesses our defence sector is having to take steps to protect the business for the future and to deliver a more sustainable structure.

‘We have been looking at how we can work more efficiently by better reflecting the requirements of the military bases we work at, which often already have a number of weeks every year when they are operating below full capacity, which is uneconomic.

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‘As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have unfortunately also seen a significant decline in our volumes at our sites where we provide a food or retail offer, e.g. stores on base, cafes and messes.

‘We value our employees and throughout the process have treated those affected respectfully. We are doing all that we can to protect jobs, such as introducing new working hours and more flexible employment opportunities.’

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