A very British strike

An employee retreats cross-legged from the factory gate, his face a grimace. The stricken man explains, to a chorus of banter from co-workers, how he's just been refused use of the site toilet. The scene plays out as strikers mass outside Unilever's Purfleet factory. But whether what's just happened complies with picket line rules or not, for UK manufacturing it really does take the piss. Industrial disputes are a throwback to the era of bubble perms and bell-bottomed flares and just as unfashionable. The Unilever rift centres on pensions – the board wants to close the final salary scheme and those on the shopfloor want to save it. Both sides make a persuasive case but whoever triumphs can expect only a hollow victory. For collectivism is the lifeblood of any thriving modern manufacturing business. Togetherness, trust and empowerment underpin the continuous improvement programmes that have delivered such impressive productivity gains across our sector. Unilever has been at the vanguard of this forward-thinking approach. Less than a decade ago, the company's Lowestoft plant won top prize at the Best Factory Awards and was lauded for outstanding partnerships between workers, management and unions. That's difficult to reconcile with the sight of shopfloor workers on one side of the street and a forlorn-looking factory manager on the other at Purfleet. The two sides, who pulled together to meet production targets just hours earlier, were pitted as adversaries at the factory gates. Managers were not the target of strikers' ire. Even so, how can they expect the worker denied access to the loo to keep a straight face as they espouse responsibility and trust during the next kaizen blitz? The debacle would have Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda shaking his head. The TPS ideology places the highest value on teamwork and respect for each other. Strikes are impossible when employer and employee exist in symbiosis. It's not unrealistic idealism. Toyota has notched up a profit in 59 out of 60 years and never suffered a strike in Japan. It's time for Unilever's warring parties to do some Genchi Genbutsu.