Threat of beer and fast food shortages as delivery drivers prepare for walkouts
Pubs and clubs are facing the prospect of beer shortages while fast food firms including Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut are also under threat of disruption from industrial disputes.
It was announced early on Tuesday that the GMB union was launching a strike vote among its near-600 members at Best Food Logistics, which delivers fresh produce to many big name fast food outlets and dining firms, which also include Wagamama and Zizzi.
It said that 93% of staff had rejected a 6% pay offer as it was significantly below the rate of inflation and amounted to a real terms pay cut this year and into next.
Hours later, the Unite union revealed that around 1,000 of its members at logistics firm GXO would walk out for five days from 31 October as part of a pay dispute.
The union said the strikes by delivery drivers would hit supplies to pubs and venues supplied by major breweries, including Heineken, Stonegate, Admiral Taverns and Shepherd Neame.
Its members, Unite added, were responsible for 40% of UK beer deliveries.
GXO said its offer was “significantly above 5%”.
A spokesperson for the company added: “We are extremely disappointed that the union has rejected our proposal, which is highly competitive and follows an above-inflation annual pay raise last year.
“The increase exceeds the industry average and, in every region, earnings for our drivers are above both the regional and national averages.
“Furthermore, we are in constant contact with our customers and should a strike go ahead, we have business continuity plans in place to ensure they are adequately stocked and minimise impact on consumers.”
It was also confirmed that hundreds of workers at AB InBev’s Samlesbury brewery in Lancashire had gone on strike again, for a period of five days, threatening production of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Becks, Boddingtons and Export Pale Ale.
That followed the breakdown of new pay talks.
Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said of the Best Fresh dispute: “These workers bust a gut to deliver fresh, just in time food to some of the biggest names in the business.
“Best Food’s parent companies Booker and Tesco are making incredibly healthy profits and paying large dividends, while leaving these workers crushed by cost of living.
“Now some of their biggest clients may well be left short this Christmas because they won’t meet GMB’s reasonable request for a pay deal that protects our members through this year and into next with a genuine cost of living increase.”
Sky News has attempted to contact Best Food and AB InBev for comment on the separate disputes they are facing.
The prospect of disruption to supplies builds on a year of intensifying union action across the economy that has seen railway workers, Royal Mail and Post Office staff walk out in fights for better pay.
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The outgoing leader of the trade union body the TUC has warned key healthcare workers could be next on the picket lines this winter.
Frances O’Grady was due to tell its annual congress they were already struggling with rising bills and claim that members of unions were facing the “longest squeeze on real wages since Napoleonic times”.
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“If ministers and employers keep hammering pay packets at the same rate, UK workers are on course to suffer two decades of lost living standards”, she said.
“We have got to stop the rot”.
The prospect of a pay fight between the government and unions representing health workers could not come at a more difficult time given winter pressure on the NHS and the clear signal from the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt that he will be keeping a tight hold of the public purse strings in the wake of the disastrous mini-budget outlined by his predecessor.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, is to sign off the appointment of a chair of English football’s new referee within days.
Sky News has learnt that David Kogan, a media industry veteran who has helped negotiate a string of television rights deals across the sport in recent decades, is to be formally approved as chair of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).
Whitehall sources said an announcement could be made by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as soon as this week, although they added that the timetable could slip by a few days.
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Once approved, Mr Kogan is expected to face a committee of MPs for a confirmation hearing early next month, the sources added.
Sky News revealed last weekend that Mr Kogan had emerged as the frontrunner for the post after an earlier shortlist of three candidates was passed over.
The new regulator has the firm backing of Sir Keir Starmer, and is a key element of legislation currently passing through Parliament.
Mr Kogan, whose boardroom roles have included a directorship at state-owned Channel 4, was initially approached during a previous recruitment process launched under the last Conservative administration.
He has some links to Labour, having in the past donated money to a number of individual parliamentary candidates, chairing LabourList, the independent news site, and writing two books about the party.
Mr Kogan has had extensive experience at the top of English football, having advised clients including the Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Premier League and UEFA on television rights contracts.
Last year, he acted as the lead negotiator for the Women’s Super League and Championship on their latest five-year broadcasting deals with Sky – the immediate parent company of Sky News – and the BBC.
His current roles include advising the chief executives of CNN, the American broadcast news network, and The New York Times Company on talks with digital platforms about the growing influence of artificial intelligence on their industries.
In recent months, Sky News has disclosed the identities of the shortlisted candidates for the role, with former Aston Villa FC and Liverpool FC chief executive Christian Purslow one of three candidates who made it to a supposedly final group of contenders.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy. File pic: Reuters
The others were Sanjay Bhandari, who chairs the anti-racism football charity Kick It Out, and Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, who chaired the new parliamentary watchdog established after the MPs expenses scandal.
The apparent hiatus in the appointment of the IFR’s £130,000-a-year chair threatened to reignite speculation that Sir Keir was seeking to diminish its powers amid a broader clampdown on Britain’s economic watchdogs.
Both 10 Downing Street and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have sought to dismiss those suggestions, with insiders insisting that the IFR will be established largely as originally envisaged.
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The creation of the IFR, which will be based in Manchester, is among the principal elements of legislation now progressing through parliament, with Royal Assent expected before the summer recess.
The Football Governance Bill has completed its journey through the House of Lords and will be introduced in the Commons shortly, according to the DCMS.
The regulator was conceived by the Tories in the wake of the furore over the failed European Super League project, but has triggered deep unrest in parts of English football.
Its creation forms part of a process that represents the most fundamental shake-up in the oversight of English football in the game’s history.
The establishment of the body comes with the top tier of the professional game gripped by civil war, with Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City at the centre of a number of legal cases with the Premier League over its financial dealings.
The Premier League is also keen to agree a long-delayed financial redistribution deal with the EFL before the regulator is formally launched, although there has been little progress towards that in the last year.
“We do not comment on speculation,” a DCMS spokesperson said when asked about the impending announcement of Mr Kogan as the IFR chair.
“No appointment has been made and the recruitment process for [IFR] chair is ongoing.”
A UK-based car distributor has seen its shares hit a four-year low after reporting a fall in sales and warning of hits ahead from Donald Trump’s trade war.
Inchcape, which exports cars for manufacturers across more than 40 countries globally, saw its stock lose up to 16.9% in early trading on Wednesday after its first quarter trading update.
It told investors that while it was not currently experiencing damage from the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on all US car imports, revenue fell by 5% over the three months to March to £2.1bn.
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Inchcape reported a resilient performance from its Americas division but struggles in its Asia-Pacific and European markets.
The period was dominated by trade war fears generally as the US president’s second term got under way and was marked by a surge in demand for goods in the US in a bid to beat any tariffs he threatened to impose.
Inchcape blamed the revenue decline on a strong comparable period in 2024 and “mixed market momentum”, led by that dash for shipments to the US to beat the imposition of any additional US duties.
They were universally imposed earlier this month, but Mr Trump has since signalled that some exemptions may soon be applied.
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There are fears that a prolonged period of trade disruption could result in job losses within the UK car industry and its supply chain.
Inchcape reaffirmed its 2025 guidance but said that excluded any impacts from tariffs.
Its actions to mitigate the effects included a focus on costs and inventory.
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Chief executive Duncan Tait said: “Demand is not currently being impacted by the tariff situation, although we do expect to see potential impacts on supply from our OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), the competitive environment, and market demand.
“We are taking proactive steps to support our key stakeholders, including taking a conservative approach to managing inventory levels, ensuring we remain disciplined on costs, focusing on cash generation and maintaining our strong balance sheet.”
Shares had recovered some poise by mid-morning, trading down by just over 7% following the initial slump.
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