A pay strike by meat inspectors has won backing from an Ilkley abattoir.

The strike is likely to cause widespread disruption today as Britain's biggest union Unison warned that plans were being drawn up to escalate the action.

It erupted in protest at an imposed pay increase of less than four per cent in response to a claim for five per cent.

But a spokesman for Agar Rowland in Ilkley said: "It's not the pay so much as the conditions that's the problem and we fully back them on that score. They do have a genuine grievance.

"We have been going for 30 years and there is far too much control over our business, the cost of everything is frightening. We would like to see a Government inquiry into how the Meat Hygiene Service operates."

She added the strike would have little effect on their business because extra slaughtering took place yesterday but the company would be worried if the action escalates.

She said: "It will cause us big problems if it escalates, though today's stoppage has not prevented us doing anything particularly."

Up to a thousand Unison members are staging the 24-hour strike, which ends at midnight tonight, closing abattoirs and hitting meat production across the country.

As well as pay, meat inspectors also complain of being attacked and intimidated as they check meat on fast-moving production lines.

The Meat Hygiene Service said it has contingency plans to deal with the stoppage which is likely to be followed by a two-day, then a three-day strike.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.