Staff at Basildon's New Holland tractor Factory are on strike today, with more than 500 workers involved in a pay dispute.

Unite has confirmed that workers will be forming a picket line outside the tractor plant throughout today. 

The union claim workers at the CNH Industrial tractor factory in Basildon are angry that the company has reneged on an agreement struck during 2022 stating pay increases would be calculated by the average rate of inflation over the year.

The union now say that more than 500 workers will strikes in May after being balloted for strike action over pay.

The factory is one of the borough’s biggest employers and has been trading in the town for more than 50 years.

CNH is offering four per cent for 2024, rather than the 7.4 per cent which was allegedly under the original agreement, Unite say.

The workers, comprising nearly the entire shopfloor of the factory, will strike on 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and May 30.

Unite say more strikes will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved, and that the action will severely compromise the supply of New Holland tractors from the sixty-year-old factory, which are shipped across the world.