Delta Print & Packaging in Belfast has raised its staffs hackles by saying it cant afford to honour an agreed pay rise - just after buying a 12th Century Bordeaux chateau for its European headquarters.
Last year, Deltas managers agreed a three-year pay deal giving "many of Northern Irelands lowest-paid print workers a substantial rise", according to GPMU spokesman Andy Snoddy. But last month they reneged on it, saying they were facing financial problems caused mainly by the strong pound.
Instead the company tabled a new pay offer, which the workers voted 51 to 2 to reject. The GPMU prepared to ballot staff on strike action, and then the company returned with a better offer, which staff were to vote on at the end of this week.
Snoddy said: "The workers are incensed not only by this breach of trust but by it coinciding with the purchase of a 12th Century Chateau in Bordeaux as Delta Prints European headquarters.
"While I understand the company faces real difficulties over the high value of the pound, so do all their competitors who already pay substantially higher wages and who have also honoured this years pay agreement."
The Chateau La Ligne comes complete with swimming pool and underground tunnel, and sits amidst 14 hectares of parkland. It was officially opened as Deltas Continental headquarters on the first weekend in June.
The companys managing director Colin Bradley declined to speak to PrintWeek, but issued a statement which said "negotiations are continuing".
Delta was recently threatened with a winding-up petition by the Inland Revenue over a 13,000 tax bill, but avoided the action by paying the outstanding amount (PrintWeek, 26 May).
Story by By Tania Mason