Staff at the 200-employee, £20m-turnover company, which makes 50m bags a week, are entitled to fixed two-week holidays when the plant shuts in April, July and December, as well as three to five 'floating' days depending on length of service and shift pattern.

According to the company, just 58 of the company’s 136 Unite the Union members voted for industrial action after it extended its 'Easter Shut' and scrapped a two-day holiday in October.

Unite regional officer Margaret Lawson said: "The ending of the two-day holiday break in October was taken in a high-handed manner, without consultation. This dispute will be resolved when that short break is restored."

Lawson said strikes would continue every Wednesday until the end of January. "Our members are not unreasonable and recognise the business needs of the company in this competitive economic environment."

She added: "Unite believes that management could have sorted this out before it reached this stage."

However, Smith Anderson chief executive Michael Longstaffe said he expected the strikes to be short-lived.

"Our employees are talking to us and most of them say they were only expecting to strike for one day. They weren’t that thrilled when they found out it was supposed to go on until January," he said.

He also said the company had consulted with Unite the Union before it made the change to its holidays.

According to Longstaffe, 30% of the company’s employees worked as usual last Wednesday, while around 17 of its staff were on the picket line.

He said the company did not want to use external production assistance during the strikes, nor did it want to buy products from other companies.

"But needs must and we will do all it takes to protect the long-term future of all employees and viability of the company," he added.