Workers at Flahavan’s in Kilmacthomas are to be balloted for industrial action following a unanimous decision at an extraordinary general meeting over the weekend.

Trade union Unite, which represents the overwhelming majority of workers at the plant, says the ballot follows management’s attempt to tie a new pay deal to a ‘flexibility agreement’ which it says has not been seen or negotiated by the union.

The ballot will open on 12 August and close on 21 August.

Unite says the proposed flexibility agreement did not form part of negotiations on a new pay deal.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the union’s members had helped make Flahavan’s a household name throughout Ireland.

She accused the company of tearing up normal industrial relations procedures and demanding that workers sign up to an unseen and unagreed policy.

Unite regional officer Eoin Drummey said the resolution of the dispute is in Flahavan’s hands.

He said Unite remains available to engage with the company if it withdraws its insistence that acceptance of a new flexibility policy forms part of the new pay deal.

Flahavan’s supplies around half of all porridge oats consumed at Irish breakfast tables.