HUNDREDS of frustrated tractor plant employees will down tools 12 more times this month as strikes intensify over a "pay betrayal".

More than 500 workers walked out ten times during May at the New Holland Tractor Factory, in Cranes Farm Road, Basildon, as they demanded an improved pay offer from CNH Industrial.

Yesterday, Unite union announced that 12 more days of strikes were beginning and workers formed a picket line for the first of this month's strikes.

Workers have accused CNH of breaking an agreement signed in 2022 that pay increases would be calculated by the average rate of inflation over the previous year.

According to Unite, CNH has offered a four per cent increase for 2024 but "should have offered 7.4 per cent".

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “CNH will not get away with its broken pay promises. It is making massive profits and the only reason the company is reneging on the deal is out and out corporate greed. No amount of double-dealing or attempts to undermine the strikes will work, CNH Basildon workforce will not back down and they have the full power of Unite supporting them.”

According to unite, the company has said it has a revised offer but is refusing to table it unless the union agrees to recommend the unseen deal to its members.

Unite regional officer Michelle Cook said: “CNH’s duplicity, time-wasting and attempts at strike breaking have not only failed, they have also strengthened our members resolve and resulted in even more workers joining the union.

“There is only one way that this dispute will be settled and that is for CNH to put forward an acceptable offer.”

Fresh strike action started yesterday and will be followed by strikes today, tomorrow, Thursday and June 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27.

The strikes will severely compromise the supply of New Holland tractors from the sixty-year-old factory, which are shipped across the world, according to Unite.