Workers at food giant Heinz are going on strike in the first of two walkouts before the end of the year in their dispute with the company over pay.
Unite said around 1,200 of its members at the firm's site in Wigan would stage a 24-hour walkout today and again before the end of the month.
The workers went on strike last week after rejecting a two-year pay offer of 3.3% and 3%, with Unite claiming that two million cans were lost from production.
Unite national officer Jennie Formby said: "The company is shamefully trying to smear this workforce as grasping for more cash even though, year on year, they have worked extremely hard to deliver whacking great profits for Heinz.
"With Heinz's profit margins extremely healthy at 37%, the workers rightly feel that the company is vastly wealthy and can easily afford to help them meet the spiralling costs of living.
"Heinz's refusal to do so is made worse when they continue to shower rewards on managers and the shareholders. The hypocrisy of 15% bonuses for well-paid managers but wage freezes for ordinary workers is staggering.
"Heinz workers are not being greedy, they just want fairness."
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