More than 100 cheese-processing workers in Northern Ireland are on strike over pay.
Employees at Glanbia's factory in Magheralin, Co Armagh, are on the picket line today in a two-day protest against a proposed 3 per cent pay rise for 2006.
Sean McKeever, of the Transport and General Workers' Union, said: "Members have rejected the 3 per cent pay offer on the back of the loss of £2,000 to £5,000 annual earnings in overtime.
"Overtime work is now being given to migrant workers from an agency at a cheaper rate. Workers are losing up to 8 per cent of their pay in overtime, so even with this increase they are facing a 5 per cent pay drop."
He added that people were dependent on their original income for mortgage payments and said one employee had been forced to find a new job.
A total of 110 members are on strike today.
Management say the increase is above the rate of inflation and point out that workers at Glanbia's two other plants in the United Kingdom have accepted the 3 per cent increase.
The factory is one of the largest mozzarella cheese processors in Europe.
