However Unite national officer Steve Sibbald said that other sites had received offers of 2% earlier in the year.

He added: "Members want an improvement to the 1.5% offer. The ballot over industrial action has been agreed and the process has started. We don't expect to get the results back until Christmas time.

"When you consider that inflation is at 5% and the Oldham site is incredibly busy, its presses are running all the time, it seems like a fair request."

Trinity Mirror accepted that the ballot could take place, although it said it felt Unite could have better handled the situation.

A spokesman for the company said: "Unite has indicated that they will ballot their members in relation to pay negotiations but we have not yet received any formal notification.

"After months of negotiations, we are disappointed that Unite has adopted this out-of-date approach which does nothing to address the very real and growing cost pressures in our industry."