The meeting, which brought together union representatives and Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) officials, follows the union's rejection of the latest pay offer of a 2.85% increase.

GPMU president Ray Williams said another meeting had been convened for yesterday (11 August).

Williams said: "I have told the CPI that it has to come back with an improved offer next week, or else the notices for industrial action will be sent out."

Union members voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot that commenced in June, following the initial pay offer rejection (PrintWeek, 17 June).

A source at a Scottish paper mill said there was surprise at the action taken by the GPMU, which had put local discussions to one side. In most cases local unions will have to honour what is decided at national level. "I understand that the union has a job to do, but I cannot see the rationale," said the source.

Paper mills also expect a hike in electricity charges of 15 per tonne from October, which, the source said, would not be passed on to customers.

"There can be hardly any mills in the UK that are making money, and it's so disappointing to be talking about strike action here in 2004," added the source.

Around three quarters of the UK's paper mills would be affected by any industrial action. There are some 80 paper and board mills in the UK with 15,800 employees.

They produce 6.2m tonnes of paper and board annually, of which 1.3m tonnes is exported.

Story by Andy Scott