INDUSTRIAL harmony at a glass company in Newton Abbot has been shattered with a series of strikes planned throughout the summer.

Workers at DB Glass in Brunel Road have voted in favour of six 48-hour stoppages over the next two months.

They are expected to walk out on June 7 with similar periodic withdrawals of labour extending through to July 12.

Their protest over a ‘miserly’ pay rise offer and ‘unreasonable’ conditions of work at DB - which makes insulated glass units - was ramped up after 44 of them rejected a pay deal of 1.5 per cent.

Local members of the Unite union voted by a majority of 81 per cent for the sequence of walk-outs.

Colleagues at their sister operation in Paignton - Sierra Windows - are continuing a rolling programme of strikes which started on April 26.

Unite today (May 25) announced a further nine 48-hour strikes at the Bay base, starting on May 31. Further actions are scheduled for June 7, 15, 22 and 29 and then July 5, 12, 19 and 26.

Both companies are part of the same Specialist Building Products group.

Workers at both sites are also angry that shifts have been changed unilaterally from five days of seven hours to four days of 12 hours. Unite’s regional coordinating officer, Terry Keefe, said: ‘Both these firms are part of a profitable group. The overwhelming strike mandate that we have achieved at D B Glass demonstrates the depth of anger at the miserly pay offer and the imposition of new unreasonable shift patterns.’ He added: ‘We have argued that the shift alteration is either not wanted by the staff because of the adverse impact on the work/life balance or because some will lose money under this new arrangement.’

And he warned: ‘This dispute is spreading across Devon and must be hitting customer orders. ’We reiterate our call to the top bosses at Specialist Building Products to knock some sense into the local management at their two firms, so we can hold constructive talks to resolve the issues at the centre of the disputes at Paignton and Newton Abbot.’

He insisted that Unite was ‘ready 24/7 to take part in such talks.’ The Mid-Devon Advertiser asked DB Glass for their response to the strike actions and a spokesman said: ‘No comment.’