Holborn, London, England 25 February 2014 -- Union members in the corrugated packaging sector in the UK are voting on possible industrial action in a dispute over pay.

Unite, UK's largest union, has started balloting over 2,000 members at about 50 sites in the UK, on whether to take strike action or other industrial action over the 2.9% pay offer made by the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) for September 2013 to September 2014. The ballot opened on 20 February and closes on 11 March.

Unite national officer Paul Finegan said: "We have a situation where highly profitable companies within the industry - Smurfit Kappa, DS Smith Plc, SAICA Pack UK Limited - continue to make good profits. (...) It is clear that no matter how great the profits of the companies concerned are, they have a policy of holding pay rises below the rate of inflation."