16608/1EMPLOYEES at a furniture factory in Melksham will have a stronger voice after voting for union recognition.

The 220 production staff at G Plan Upholstery, one of Melksham's largest employers, have been voting for GMB recognition over the past two weeks.

The votes were counted on Friday, with 111 employees voting at the Hampton Park West firm. The result saw 99 were in favour of recognition and 12 were against.

Kevin Brandstatter, GMB representative for Wiltshire and Swindon, said: "The result of this ballot is a massive victory for trade unionism in Wiltshire and for GMB in particular, and continues a trend of growing GMB membership throughout the county."

He said the vote took place after workers called for recognition. A petition signed by 108 production staff at the furniture company was presented in May.

He said: "We have had members working there for a number of years and over the past few years we have been trying to reach an agreement with the company voluntarily. They didn't want to do this so we went through a ballot under the law.

"Towards the beginning of last year we were getting quite a bit of pressure from members who wanted to do something, who wanted a say on what was going on at work."

Achieving union recognition means the company is legally obliged to negotiate with the GMB about terms for employees. Union reps will be elected within the company to put across workers' views.

Mr Brandstatter said: "Mostly it was for them to get a voice at work. Decisions were made without any independent voice and as we were chatting to people there were some problems that came up."

He said the issue of holidays was creating problems at the company, which closes down for three weeks during the summer, meaning employees have no choice about when they take their holidays.

Areas of negotiation will include pay, hours, holidays and health and safety.

The recognition only covers production staff but the vote has encouraged other staff, such as lorry drivers, to request recognition.

Mr Brandstatter said although there was 29 per cent union membership in the UK, this fell to 12 per cent in the private sector.

The GMB is in negotiations with one other company in west Wiltshire about whether to ballot for union recognition. G Plan declined to comment on the ballot result.

This was the second successful ballot for GMB recognition in Wiltshire. Reliance Monitoring Services in Swindon secured recognition in September 2004 after a vote of 156 votes to six.