Employees decided to ballot last November after being offered an increase of 1.5%, while earlier in the year sister plants had been offered 2%.

The result of the ballot came in Tuesday afternoon (17 January) with voting members choosing two to one in favour of industrial action including a strike and more than ten to one voting in favour of industrial action short of a strike.

However, the company said that the results were misleading because not all members opted to vote.

A spokesman for the company said: "Only one third of the bargaining unit have voted for strike action, and less than half the bargaining unit voted for action short of a strike. 

"What this result shows is that the majority of our employees accept the economic realities facing our business, and the pay award which has already been paid.  

"We hope the union will now do the same and focus instead on working constructively with us to address the challenges we face."

PrintWeek understands that around 80 out of 150 members responded to the ballot, with just over 50 opting for strike action and almost 70 opting for action short of a strike.

Unite now has a 28-day window in order to decide when it will take action and what that action will be.

National officer Steve Sibbald told PrintWeek that there were no meetings planned with the company, but the union would be happy to talk to them in the interim.

He said: "Oldham is a very important site for them now they don't have Liverpool. They aren't going to be able to move work to Watford or Glasgow - it is their northern plant."