The meeting brought together union representatives and Confederation of Paper Industry officials for further talks following the rejection of a 2.85% pay increase.

"We have not reached agreement, therefore I will be sending out the notices to our members," said GPMU president Ray Williams.

The notices will call for industrial action to be taken with effect from 26 August.

Williams said CPI officials were going back to their members to discuss the situation, and had until that time to come back with an improved offer.

"We had a long meeting and negotiations, but the progress that we made was not enough," said Williams.

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

Curtis Fine Papers managing director Alban Denton urged the GPMU, CPI and industry officials to get back round the table and sort out a deal.

"For us [Curtis] the news is deeply disappointing. In light our restructuring and current investment, we cannot do this without our workforce."

Denton said the situation could be "deeply damaging" for the Scottish speciality paper producer.

Around three quarters of the UK's paper mills will 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