The Unite union is balloting workers at a Leicester factory about possible strike action over pay. The union says more than 100 workers are being balloted at the Trelleborg factory, which is on the northern edge of the city, after rejecting a 4 per cent pay rise and a £700 lump sum.
The union said: “With the real rate of inflation, RPI, standing at 11.4 per cent, this is a significant real terms pay cut.” The Swedish-based business – which makes dampeners, suspensions, pads and buffers for industry and the transport sector – said it had been negotiating with the union for the past four months, whose members had now decided to walk away from the talks.
Union leaders say are angry at the offer, and that the business – which they said makes products for Bombardier, Alstom, M.T.R.C, JBC, Caterpillar and John Deere – has been profitable in recent years and can afford to pay more to help its workers in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
