According to the national media, Sainsbury's is facing a real threat of strike action by staff at one of its depots over Christmas.

Pay talks between the chain and workers in Haydock, Merseyside, broke down on Friday, as Union officials said its members had rejected Sainsbury's final pay offer of £7.19 an hour, which represented a 6.5 per cent increase on current salary levels.

A ballot of workers will now take place, the result of which will be released on December 15. The Haydock depot supplies Sainsbury's stores in the north west of England, and the group has already made it clear that contingency plans will be in place to ensure that any action causes the minimum of disruption to supplies during the busy peak Christmas period.

“While we have been getting our new distribution centres up and running, we have been moving stock around the system, so we are used to doing that,” a Sainsbury's source told The Times. “If we had to continue to do that because of the Haydock situation it would not have big cost implications and would not be a big problem for us.”

Workers are asking for a rise to £8 an hour, claiming that was promised to them by 2004. Sainsbury's has offered to increase wages to £7.55 an hour by next April ñ a significant shortfall.

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