WORKERS at an engineering firm are considering industrial action after their employer offered a pay rise of just 50p per hour.

Staff at Clydebank Engineering and Fabrication (CBEF) - who are represented by the GMB union, are being consulted this week after the company refused to improve the 2021 pay offer from 50p an hour, the union claims.

Representatives had previously submitted a pay claim for an £1.50 an hour increase. GMB has claimed that there is a significant local pay gap between those who work at CBEF and similar trades across Glasgow. 

The union has claimed that welders and platers earn around £10.03 yet the average hourly rate for a welder is £16.97 an hour according to jobs site Indeed.

A ballot will now run until Friday. GMB Scotland Organiser Gary Cook said: “GMB has consistently raised the problem of widespread low-pay in work and society, and this is yet another case in point of people struggling on little more than £10 an hour. It’s got to be better than this.

“Should our members return support for moving to a full industrial action ballot against the employer’s pay offer, then we will begin plans for that statutory process and that could mean supply-chain disruption for firms like Alexander Dennis later this summer.

“If we want to build a fairer recovery then we need to start giving people proper value for the work they do – the likes of CBEF would do well to listen their workers’ voice and become part of the solution, and not the problem.