Scores of striking workers joined a picket line at a global engineering plant this morning. The shop-floor staff at American-based Phinia downed tools at the Gillingham factory – formerly Delphi – following a long-running dispute over work conditions. They have been issued an ultimatum by bosses to end their current employment contracts with an offer of new jobs under new terms – a practice known as “fire and rehire”. The process is controversial because it forces employees into a difficult choice – accept less favourable conditions or lose their jobs. About 650 people, engineers and shop-floo…
