Doncaster DFS workers stage demo as union accuses bosses of treating staff like 'cut price sofas'

Workers at the firm’s factory in Carcroft protested this morning in a row over hours, with union GMB saying staff have had contracted hours cut by a fifth.

It says factory employees have had weekly hours slashed, whilst protecting hours of management and office staff.

In a statement, the GMB said the firm was refusing to engage with the union in its bid for recognition, despite reps having signed up over fifty per cent of the piece workers who work at the site.

Sarah Barnes, GMB Organiser, said: “Staff are being put on sale by DfS management.

“Whilst offering a fifth off a new sofa may make business sense to the CEO, a twenty per cent pay cut is devastating to the staff and their families who keep the furniture rolling off the production line.

“In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, DFS need to urgently review this cut on their staff and recognise their legal right to trade union representation.

“We often say that we won’t take this sort of treatment sitting down, but in this case that’s exactly what we’ll be doing this Friday - sitting on sofas outside the factory gates until the CEO listens to us.”

A spokesperson for DFS denied that the union has 50% representation and said talks had been taking place since March with today's factory closure pre-planned, adding: “At DFS we hand make the majority of our sofas to order, many of them in our own factories in the UK. Volumes vary throughout the year and we often see a peak in the winter months and lower volumes in the summer months.

“In line with most other upholstery manufacturers, on occasion we ask our factory team to flex their working hours. This includes taking annual leave or banking hours which means that people get paid now but work the hours in the winter when there are higher order numbers needing to be fulfilled therefore, maintaining consistency in pay.

"Weekly pay is not affected by this and in fact by the end of July, all employees will receive a pay rise of at least 5%.”