Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke called for the rise in a letter to the union's chapels, after its annual pay negotiations with the BPIF broke down for the second year running.

Burke said: "The BPIF position last year was that as the Retail Price Index was in the negative, there should be no increase.

"Following the BPIF's logic, the claim should be an increase in wages of 3.7%, which is the current Retail Price Index."

However, the move has not been well received by employers, who claim that there is still no scope for increases in most cases, despite the beginnings of a recovery within the industry.

Ian Neal, managing director at Coatings Direct, said Unite's claim was "ludicrous" and that there wasn't the margin to fund that increase.

He added: "It isn't just adding a pound here or there – if you have 20 or 30 staff that adds up to thousands of pounds each year.

"Even though the RPI is up, and there are supposed to be green shoots all over the place, it hasn't filtered through to the margins yet. I think it will be six months before we will see anything like that."

Park Communications chief executive Heath Mason added: "If business can afford to give 3.7% that is all very well, but not a lot of businesses are in that position. I would be surprised if many companies can afford a pay rise at all, let alone 3.7%.

"We want our staff to be well paid, but we want a profitable business and we can only base our increases on what we do, not what others are doing."

Commenting on its decision to walk away from the annual pay negotiations, which form an integral part of the 2005 Partnership At Work agreement with Unite, the BPIF said that the majority of its members "cannot afford an increase at this time".