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The company added that its pay offer was “very competitive within the marketplace”.<\/p>\n
Its West Yorkshire site is the biggest soft drinks plant in Europe and produces more than 50% of the drinks the company sells in Britain. <\/p>\n
The plant spans an area similar to the size of 15 football pitches and produces 420,000 cans per hour. <\/p>\n
Its products include Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Monster and Relentless.<\/p>\n
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the company was making “profits in the billions” so could afford “a proper pay rise”.<\/p>\n
Ms Graham said: “Its profits are up 37% to an eye-watering \u00a31.85bn but bosses refuse to pay workers a decent wage increase which keeps up with rising prices.”<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the company said the average total package for a worker at Wakefield was \u00a346,900.<\/p>\n
The company said it had also made a “\u00a31,000 payment to all frontline colleagues in the past 12 months to support the current cost-of-living challenges”.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said: “Whilst we hope that a resolution can be found, we are preparing robust contingency measures and are confident that there will be no disruption to our trade customers.” <\/p>\n
The company said it remained “fully committed to maintaining talks with colleagues”, adding “this offers the prospect of a constructive outcome – unlike industrial action”.<\/p>\n
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