Workers at the Weetabix Kettering site will vote on whether to strike over a pay dispute, just days after planned industrial action was averted.

Union Usdaw has launched a ballot for members working at the AP4 plant, which produces cereal bars, after the company revealed it would be reducing unsociable hours shift premium pay.

The ballot will close on 13th July and if members vote to take industrial action, a 24-hour stoppage would be called within a week from 28th July. Further 24 to 48-hour stoppages would be planned periodically until the issue was resolved, Usdaw stated.

A Weetabix spokesman said the company needed to implement new ways of working “to keep us competitive,” adding that Weetabix was disappointed at the decision to ballot but respected employees’ right to do so.

Around 80 members of Unite working at the firm’s Kettering and Corby sites voted to take part in strikes this summer, over Weetabix’s so-called ‘fire and rehire’ policies. The action was suspended when the company agreed not to implement changes to engineers’ contracts until at least September, to allow time for ‘meaningful negotiations’.