WORKERS have started a ten-day strike at an Army vehicle repair base as a pay row escalates.

Staff at Defence Support Group (DSG), in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, walked out this morning (Monday, December 8).

The Unite union says workers feel betrayed by management, who it claims have rejected appeals for an eight per cent pay rise to offer a one per cent increase instead.

However, DSG bosses previously told The Northern Echo any wage changes were limited due to the Government’s stance on public sector pay, adding the strike was jeopardising the company’s valued industry reputation.

Hundreds of DSG’s 2,400 nationwide workforce are taking part in the action, including some of its near 100-strong team at Catterick Garrison, where its workshop and vehicle storage site helps maintain and overhaul vehicles, such as Land Rovers and heavy duty trucks, which have been used in Afghanistan and by UK-based units.

Engineering contractor Babcock Land has been named preferred bidder to take over DSG next year as the Government plans to strengthen its defence budget, and Mike McCartney, Unite national officer, said any deal should see staff rewarded.

He added: “As DSG is fattened up to be privatised, workers who support our armed forces have had pay cuts in real terms of nearly 18 per cent.

“This action is the longest in the group’s history, and any backlogs in repairs and maintenance sit squarely with management who need to get around the negotiating table.”

Unite’s members across DSG’s UK bases previously downed tools for six days in October and November, with the latest strike affecting sites in Dorset, Colchester, Donnington, Stirling and Warminster, in Wiltshire.

But a DSG spokesman said the action was doing more harm than good.

He added: “We are a highly regarded business with armed forces customers and this is not doing anything to help that; they are damaging our reputation.

“The company cannot exceed what Chancellor George Osborne has talked about over the one per cent increase for public sector workers.

“It is no different than any other public sector organisation.

“We are taking contingency measures and kept a record last time of the people who went out so we can work around it.”