SUPERMARKET shelves may be left bare this Christmas after workers at a food-preparation factory voted to strike over their pay rise being “suppressed” by management.

More than 1,000 employees at Bakkavor Foods in Spalding, Lincolnshire, have voted by 83 per cent in favour of strike action over a 1.5 per cent pay offer, which represents a cut in real terms.

The workers, who make salads, meals and dips for the Co-Op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, are furious at Bakkavor’s paltry proposal, given that the company recorded a £106 million pre-tax profit and a £1.6 billion turnaround in the past financial year.