Workers at Leonardo in Luton threaten strike action over pay
Staff at a defence and aerospace company in Luton may walk out if they vote to strike over a pay offer dispute.
Unite the union members at the Capability Green site are being balloted for industrial action after they rejected 3.2 per cent from the employer. The vote will close in early October.
Leonardo, a manufacturer of defence industry equipment, is one of the largest defence companies in the world.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Our members are highly skilled and work on critical defence and aerospace systems yet are being short-changed by a company making billions.
"Leonardo needs to do the right thing, come back to the negotiating table and make an improved offer our members can accept."
Last year, Leonardo had revenues of nearly 18 billion Euros and profits of over 1.5 billion Euros.
Unite national officer for aerospace Rhys McCarthy added: "Leonardo is incredibly wealthy and makes billions from UK government contracts. It is entirely unacceptable that it sees fit to make a poor pay offer to a highly skilled and valuable workforce.
"Unite is making it clear that unless Leonardo quickly returns to the negotiating table with an improved offer, they will see the anger of their workforce on the picket line."