HUNDREDS of workers at Nestlé’s York factory are to take part in a national ballot for industrial action.

The move is the latest twist in a wrangle over pay which has rumbled on since the start of the year.

It comes after 90 per cent of GMB and Unite union members in York recently voted in favour of staging a ballot, following a fresh offer from the company.

The Press reported earlier this month how Nestlé, which originally proposed a pay freeze, was offering workers a guaranteed bonus on top of a basic one per cent rise.

Union leaders said they were not recommending the offer for acceptance because bonuses were generally only for one year at a time, and members wanted an increase in basic rates.

The unions yesterday said the new ballot would be the first national one to be held at Nestlé plants across the UK, with members at Girvan, Fawdon, Halifax, Castleford, Dalston and Hayes joining colleagues in York in the vote.

A spokesman claimed the company had given assurances that meaningful negotiations would take place at a local level, but this had not happened.

He also said Nestlé was making “massive profits” and could pay employees a reasonable wage increase, claiming UK results published in 2010 had shown a 12.1 per cent increase in gross profit and 38 per cent increase in operating profits. Steve Huckerby, the GMB’s regional organiser based in York, claimed employees had been forced into their position.

He said: “Nestlé employees have contributed to the company’s increased profits and success with their hard work and commitment over many years. What do they get in return? – A massive cut in their pension and small increase in basic pay and a move to non-consolidated performances-related bonus? Nestlé employees deserve to be treated better.”

A Nestlé spokesman said the firm was “perplexed and disappointed” by the news of the national ballot. “The company is engaged in local negotiations at almost all our sites,” said a spokesman. “Nestlé has never held negotiations on a national basis.”