Engineering news
Defence workers in Colchester are to stage a 10-day strike in a long-running dispute over pay.
The 800 members of trade union Unite at the Defence Support Group (DSG) will walk out from December 8 in protest at a 1% pay offer.
The latest action at the group, which maintains, repairs and overhauls military equipment for the Ministry of Defence, follows six days of strike action in recent weeks.
Other sites which will be affected include Bovington, Dorset, Catterick, North Yorkshire, Donnington, Shropshire, Stirling and Warminster,Wiltshire.
The union has written to the MoD and potential new owner Babcock warning that the proposed sale of the group could be derailed by a pay system that "demotivates employees and breeds discontent".
Babcock was announced as the preferred bidder for the DSG earlier this month.
National officer Mike McCartney said: "The MoD, DSG management and the group's potential new owner Babcock Land should be under no illusion of the resolve of the workforce to secure a fair pay settlement.
"Workers who have made DSG such a success story in supporting our armed forces feel betrayed by the continual erosion of their pay packets. The DSG is a cash-rich organisation which can well afford a decent pay rise for its hardworking staff.
"Feelings among our members are running high, not just because of the insulting pay offer, but because of the uncertain future they face of being sold off to the private sector. Management need to get back around the table to avoid the sell-off being derailed."
The DSG will become the Defence Electronics and Components Agency in April next year, when Babcock completes its takeover.
The DSG is headquartered in Andover, Hampshire and employs 886 workers at Donnington, and 430 at Bovington.