Staff at a building services equipment manufacturing firm in Hertfordshire have voted to strike.
Workers employed by Crane Building Services & Utilities will now meet with representatives from the GMB trade union to coordinate strike days.
The union is seeking a 10 per cent pay rise, while Crane has offered its workers a 5 per cent increase. GMB balloted 105 workers – 79 per cent of the firm’s 151 employees – for strike action.
The union said in a statement that 84 per cent of the workers turned out to vote, of which 97 per cent voted in favour of strike action.
GMB London regional organiser Andre Marques said the firm had “refused to budge” on its pay rise proposals.
“These are skilled workers and 5 per cent is an insult to our members, and hardly in keeping with the resolution of the company founder, RT Crane,” he said.
“GMB now urge management to reflect on the result of the ballot and to come back to the table with a meaningful increase that our members can accept, or face the fact that strike action will impact production.”
There are no plans for strike ballots at the firm’s other UK facilities in Ipswich and Northampton.
Crane designs and manufactures engineered flow control products and solutions for the utilities and heating, ventilation and air conditioning sectors.
It is part of the Process Flow Technologies group, which is a division of US-based parent company Crane Co.
