WORKERS at one of Bolton's most famous engineering works are taking industrial action.

Employees at BOC Edwards - formerly Hick Hargreaves - have been staging walk-outs and have banned overtime in a dispute over pay.

A total of 27 people are involved in the strikes which are being organised by engineering union Amicus.

There has been pickets outside the building at Wingates Industrial Estate while inside company bosses assessed the situation.

At the heart of the dispute is mounting anger over the size of the wage increase offered by the company. The workers are currently on £8.11 an hour and are seeking £9. The company has offered an 11 per cent increase over two years which has been rejected.

The workers decided to take industrial action four weeks ago when they voted unanimously in favour of walk-outs which happened yesterday afternoon and today.

Bosses say the action has been taken by just over a quarter of the workforce and in a short statement said they were working towards a resolution. The action affects only those employed in the industrial product division of the firm, which employs 100 shop floor workers.

Craftsman operator John Hough, aged 45, from Tonge Moor, said the company's shop floor workers in the south were on £80-a-week more. He said: "We have had enough, the company has not communicated with us for six weeks. We have left the door open for negotiations."

Chemical cell operative Dave Fairburn, 53, from Worsley, said: "We just want a fair crack of the whip but we're not getting it."

Warehouse operative, Martin Hutchinson, 44, from Astley Bridge, said: "This firm is supposed to be a Centre of Excellence, and we feel their proposed rise is unfair."

Hick Hargreaves moved from its Soho Works in Crook Street to the Wingates Industrial Estate when it was taken over two years ago. The business had been in Crook Street since it opened in 1832 and moved out to enable Sainsbury's to build a supermarket on the site.

A spokesman for BOC Edwards, which has its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, said: "The company has made a realistic pay offer which is substantially above inflation.

"We are always prepared to continue our dialogue with the trade union on this matter. Our aim is, and always has been, to bring this dispute to a satisfactory conclusion as quickly as possible."

BOC Edwards produced vacuum equipment to the semiconductor, industrial and scientific markets.