CHEMICALS group Croda was last night waiting to discover whether its Teesside plant could face industrial action, after hundreds of employees took part in a ballot.

The Croda Chemicals Wilton site has been hit by an ongoing pay dispute over the past few weeks, which saw workers reject a three per cent pay increase.

Unions condemned the offer as "small reward" for the efforts of the 300 employees at the site.

During the past fortnight, workers have been taking part in a secret ballot at the Wilton plant, over whether to take action against the company, and what form their protest will take.

The result was expected late last night at the site, which was formerly owned by Uniqema, with an official announcement expected this morning.

Joe Keith, senior regional industrial organiser for the T&G division of the Unite trade union, yesterday said: "The ballot closed at midday after members had been voting for the past two weeks.

"At the meetings we have had with the company they have refused to increase their offer of three per cent any more, and so our members are now going down the route of seeing whether industrial action should be taken."

Mr Keith added that workers were unhappy with the pay offer after learning that other neighbouring sites at Wilton had brokered pay deals of more than three per cent in recent months.

Croda bought the site for £410m in September last year from ICI, and earlier this year saw a 23 per cent lift in half-year profits to £34.7m, hailing the integration of its Uniqema purchase as a driving force behind the results.

Late last year, The Northern Echo revealed that the company shed 60 jobs from the 360-strong workforce it inherited, with work transferred to one of its sites in the South.

* The result of the ballot will be in The Northern Echo tomorrow.