A SECOND strike at one of the county's biggest employers, Special Metals Wiggin, was in the balance yesterday as The Hereford Times went to press.

The result of a vote on whether 400 members of the firm's biggest union, the GMB, were to walk out at midnight tonight was due to be announced yesterday evening. If approved the strike would last until midnight on Monday with a third walkout in two weeks.

Having rejected a one per cent offer union members are voting on a backdated one per cent rise with a further percentage point increase on acceptance.

Last offer

Union representative Phil Cogzell said: "The company has said this is their last offer and there is no more money."

The dispute and below-inflation offer comes as the company, which makes special metal alloys, is losing money in the UK and facing bankruptcy in the USA.

With NASA and the aerospace industry among its main customers the downturn in the world economy and September 11 had a dramatic effect on the order book resulting in the possibility of a UK sell off.

But with news of huge pay settlements to top bosses in the US, many Hereford employees are said to have lost patience.