News of AstraZeneca employees striking has given rise to
speculation the drug giant is setting itself up as an M&A target.
Earlier this week, the GMB union announced that staff at the
Anglo-Swedish company would stage a series of strikes in September in a row
over pensions. According to GMB national officer Allan Black, this is possibly
the first time in “living memory” that employees of a pharma company have voted
for strike action. According to AstraZeneca, 165 out of the 469 GMB union members in the company's UK workforce voted for industrial action. The company has about 9,000 employees in the UK.
The dispute, which started in January, arises from the
company’s “draconian” proposals to end its defined benefit (final salary)
pension scheme for 2,500 staff based mainly at Macclesfield, the second largest
site worldwide for the company. The defined benefit scheme allegedly has a
deficit of £1.4 billion.
In an interview with PharmaTimes, Black called AstraZeneca’s
move both “inexplicable and unacceptable”, speculating the company was setting
itself up as an M&A target.
“Strike action for pharma is very uncommon and particularly
for AstraZeneca, which is generally a very good employer and receives very few
criticisms. This makes this [pension move] all the more inexplicable and
unacceptable… particularly as AstraZeneca hasn’t been that affected by the
recession.”
According to January’s full year financial report, revenue
increased 7% to $32,804 million last year, with core operating profit up 23% to
$13,621 million.
The only logical reason the firm would want to wipe the
deficit off the pension sheet was if it was anticipating to sell or merge,
Black told PharmaTimes. “But that’s purely speculation,” he added.
However, various analysts have recently tipped AstraZeneca
as a possible takeover target, particularly in light of the company having
raised its earnings forecast several times of late. In July, GlaxoSmithKline
boss Andrew Witty publicly ruled out any bid for its rival saying: “That kind of classic merger is not
how we will grow. Any deal would have to be one where we don’t pay a 30pc
premium just to fire people.”
Black
said it was unlikely the strike would be averted, though the union was willing
to discuss the issue with management.
In a
statement, AstraZeneca said it was “very disappointed” by the decision to
strike, adding: “It is our firm belief that industrial action would not be in
anyone’s best interests”.
“AstraZeneca
remains committed to providing a very competitive level of pension benefit, and
the changes made ensure all employees continue to have access to pension
arrangements that compare favorably to other organisations in the UK.”
AstraZeneca head of UK corporate communications Simon Moore told PharmaTimes the industrial action would not affect patients accessing their medicines. "I can confirm we have robust contingency plans in place and do not expect there to be an impact on medicines supply," he said.
The dates
for strike action are: three strikes of two hours duration on 8 September;
three strikes of four hours duration on 15 September; and one day/shift of
strike action for 24 hours starting at 6am on 22 September. Further action will
be announced in due course.
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