Staff at a Nottingham bakery which produces Wall's and Pork Farms products are set to ballot over strike action in a dispute over pay.
Officials at the Unite union claim workers at the Riverside Bakery - part of Addo Food Group - are being offered 'a pay cut disguised as a rise'.
More than 150 workers will ballot over potential strike action in light of a pay offer Unite claims would leave staff worse off by reducing overtime and premium rates.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: "This offer is a pay cut disguised as a rise. It would leave our members, who are already struggling with low pay and soaring inflation, worse off.
"I doubt customers will be impressed to learn that the quiches they buy in Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and other supermarkets are being made by workers on the breadline.
"Riverside Bakery should be aware that, if our members vote for strike action, Unite will have their backs with all the support they need."
The ballot for action opens on Tuesday (February 22) and closes on March 8.
Unite said the latest pay offer was a "serious attack" on its members' premium rates.
Cheryl Pidgeon, Unite regional officer, said: "Riverside Bakery and their new owners, PAI Partners, can well afford to ensure that their already low paid workers' financial woes are not further increased.
"With the rising cost-of-living many will be plunged - if they are not there already - into in-work poverty under the current pay offer.
"Riverside Bakery need to put forward a deal our members can accept before this dispute escalates further."
Riverside Bakery makes products such as quiches, flans and savoury tarts for major supermarkets and retailers which include Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer.
Addo Food Group was bought by private equity firm PAI Partners in 2020, who plan to merge Addo with another chilled food company it owns, Winterbotham Darby, to create a new company, The Compleat Food Group.
A spokesperson for The Compleat Food Group said: “After extensive talks, The Compleat Food Group made a very favourable offer of an increase to hourly rates for the colleagues at Riverside Bakery which was rejected by the Union.
“To enhance the previous offers, the final offer from the business included the fixing of overtime premiums at the 2021 rates. This was a move to further enhance hourly rates and increase differentials in advance of the forthcoming increase to the national minimum wage.”
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