More than 300 employees from an Elton glass manufacturing company are to go on a 48-hour strike over pay tomorrow (Thursday).

Workers from Encirc Glass, formerly known as Quinn Glass, will strike from 6.45am tomorrow until 6.45am on Saturday (July 2) after rejecting a two-year pay deal based on a 2% pay rise in year one, and a conversion of bonus pay into basic pay in year two.

This means there would be no pay award for year two, and the company is insistent in retaining at least a 10% bonus for all employees.

The workers, who are all members of Unite, the country’s largest union, are said to be ‘concerned’ at the way bonus payments are being used to prop up low salaries.

Unite’s regional officer Alison Spencer-Scragg said: “It is disappointing that we are at this stage, but Encirc Glass does not seem to appreciate how divisive the bonus scheme is for our members.

“Historically, this has been an issue for staff at the site as in a recent survey employees have expressed a dissatisfaction rate of over 70% regarding the bonus scheme.

“We have made an offer to the director to sit down with the team of Unite representatives to understand how his employees feel, but so far this has not been taken up.

“As always, we remain available for talks with the company to resolve the dispute,” she added.