DOZENS of workers at a Rogerstone food factory have threatened to go on strike again next week over pay conditions – just a month after lining the picket line.

Up to 100 shop workers at RF Brookes are planning on staging an all-out strike next Thursday and Friday (July 14 and 15) unless a compromise can be reached in a meeting with factory bosses this week.

They are aggrieved with changes to workers’ terms and conditions, including the removal of the night shift allowance, having to work more bank holidays and lower overtime rates.

Dai Mort, 48, a cleaner at the factory, estimates he would lose out on around £1,500 year as a result. The company, he claims, have offered to cover workers’ losses for the next 19 months but this has been turned down by union members.

He said: “Morale has been absolutely rubbish - no one wants to go on strike.”

According to the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, three-quarters of the company's 800 shop floor workers have signed up for the new terms, including increasing the lowest hourly rate for over 25s in line with UK Government’s national living wage.

John James, the union’s regional secretary, believes workers will not be suitably paid for unsociable hours once the national living wage of £9 for under-25s comes into force by 2020.

He said: “People thought they would improve their lives because of the national living wage but, in fact, it’s costing them money.

“The problem is that the company has divided us. So many people have had to sign on the dotted line for contracts so it becomes increasingly difficult moving forward.

“We’re still talking to the company and we’ve got discussions on Wednesday to try and resolve it but your guess is as good as mine if we do.”

Gary Jackson, 29, from Risca, has been a plant operator at RF Brookes for more than a decade and is a salaried worker.

Although he has not yet been directly affected by the proposals, as a salaried member of staff, he fears he could lose up to £1,500 a year if the changes come in.

He said: “It’s in the air at the moment – there’s a lot of mixed feelings. I’ve been working here 11-and-a-half years and I’ve never seen it [morale] like this to be honest.

“Hopefully they can come back now and resolve it. No one wants to strike but at the end of the day, when the national living wage is going up, no one should be losing out.”

A Brookes Avana spokesman said: “We have had no official notice of further strike action and talks are continuing with union representatives.”