WORKERS at an engineering plant are taking industrial action after being told they must take a two week holiday in August.

The compulsory break has been imposed by bosses at Edbro who say they are facing a “tough” time.

And they said they were “surprised” the strike action was being taken by staff who will still be able to take holidays at other times of the year.

Most of the 200 staff at the Nelson Street company will walk out every Monday and Friday for the next 10 weeks in protest at the changes to their holiday system and the two-week shutdown.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said: “Management asked us to do it last year and we agreed to it as a one-off.

“But this year, the company sent an email saying the same thing would be happening without any discussion.”

The union, Unite, held a strike ballot and said staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking action. A picket line was in place at the factory gates on Monday.

Managing director David Nesbitt said he understood why staff did not want to take holidays in August because it was more expensive during the school holiday period.

He said: “I completely understand why they don’t want to take holidays in August, but it’s a new world out there and times are very, very tough in our market.

“Many of our customers in Europe are on holiday then and demand for our hydraulic and lifting gear systems for large construction industry trucks falls off.

“When the staff want their holidays in June and September, it’s cheaper to travel but it is our busiest period.

“We had a tough time and we lost a lot of staff last year and I’m a little surprised to see them take strike action over changes to the holiday pattern.”

Management and unions met for talks yesterday to try and resolve the dispute and were continuing talks today.