Top 10 Scrooge bosses of the year - Quorn

This year throughout the festive period, UniteLive will highlight our top ten worst bosses of the year – employers so miserly and mean that they’d put Scrooge himself to shame.

Today we look at Quorn – the celebrated meat substitute brand that often touts its ethical and sustainable credentials. What’s not to like?

Well beneath its slick PR lies a company that is refusing to give its workers in its Billingham factory in the UK a decent pay rise despite enormous profits.

More than 60 workers at the factory have been on strike since September after rejecting a mean four per cent pay offer plus a one off £1,000 payment. With the real rate of inflation, RPI, at over 14 per cent, this means a hefty pay cut amid rocketing living costs.

Meanwhile, Quorn’s turnover for the year ending 31 December 2021 was £224.9 million and the company made pre-tax profits of £7.36 million. The company is owned by Philippines-based Monde Nissin, which brought in record revenues of more than £1 billion during the same period. Quorn’s highest paid director, Marco Bertacca, was paid over £1 million.

In November, Unite staged a protest at London’s Plant Based World Expo, which is sponsored by Quorn. Protestors demonstrated to highlight that Quorn’s supposed ethical credentials are in fact a shambles as the company continues to deny its workers a decent pay rise.

Commenting on the day of the protest, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Quorn so-called ethical credentials are looking very tattered today. It is part of a billion-pound business that can well afford to pay fairly but is instead offering an effective pay cut to UK workers. This is unacceptable to Unite. Unless Quorn returns to the negotiating table with an acceptable offer our protests and strikes will continue.”

The striking workers, including fermenter and chiller technicians, maintenance and laboratory staff and effluent treatment plant staff, are highly skilled and vital to the running of the meat free paste production factory in Billingham, County Durham.

Stay tuned for more Scrooge bosses tomorrow.

By UniteLive team