A ballot for strikes among hundreds of workers at Sainsbury's depots is to go ahead after failure to break a deadlocked pay dispute, it has been announced.
220 drivers are balloting for strike action at Sainsbury's Hams Hall depot near Birmingham, in a dispute over pay.
The depot serves stores across the West and East Midlands, with union representatives warning that stores would not receive deliveries from 6 December if strike action is taken. It would affect almost 300 stores.
Earlier in the month, the shop workers union Usdaw said almost 800 of its members based at the supermarket giant's site in Haydock, Merseyside, will vote over the next few weeks on whether to stage a series of one-day strikes.
The ballot result is expected on 15 December, raising the threat of industrial action in the days before Christmas.
Usdaw said the union remained willing to reopen talks with the company and stressed that strikes would only be a last resort.
Christmas deliveries to booming High Street giants Sainsbury’s could be halted in their tracks across the region – following the strike threats.
