Unite is demanding that the Building and Engineering Services Association (BESA) improve its below inflation pay offer for thousands of skilled workers and get back to the negotiating table, after union members overwhelmingly rejected the deal in a consultative ballot.

Skilled plumbers and heating and ventilating engineers voted nine to one against accepting a two-year pay offer which includes freezing pay for the first year, followed by 1.5 per cent increase for the second year.

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The country's low carbon energy sector could be affected if industrial action follows a break-down in talks as thousands of skilled workers down tools.

Bernard McAulay, Unite national officer for construction, said: "This insulting pay offer has been roundly rejected by our members. The employers are hiding behind the economic climate to try and push through this paltry pay offer.

"We know that the major contractors that make up the Building and Engineering Association have healthy profit margins and order books. Last year they attempted to de-skill the industry causing the biggest industrial unrest on sites across the country for a decade.

"After six months the employers had to back-track because of the opposition they felt by thousands of angry skilled workers.

"This pay deal has been received with equal anger and Unite members have made it clear that they want an improved offer."

(CD)