WORKERS at the Bank of England downed tools for the first time in 50 years yesterday after bosses refused a section of the staff a pay rise for the second year in a row.

General union Unite said maintenance, security and parlour workers at London’s Threadneedle Street were “struggling to pay their bills and feed their families” thanks to a real-terms cut in their pay.

Pickets donned masks bearing the face of central bank governor Mark Carney at a rally on Tuesday morning at the start of their three-day strike. Unite said Mr Carney should explain to the striking workers why they “deserve to face years of pay cuts.”

Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell joined the rally, arguing: “All the workforce want is a decent pay rise.”

One worker at the bank, who did not want to be named, told the Star that a 1 per cent pay rise had not been given equally to workers, instead being put into a “pot to be distributed at managers’ discretion.”

The worker said: “One third of workers didn’t get a pay rise at all.”

And he said that successive years of the public-sector pay cap had left lower-paid staff struggling to make ends meet. “For those of us with children at university there’s been a real impact,” he added.

Unite official Mercedes Sanchez said the fact that workers were striking for the first time in so long was “a clear signal of how bad things are going.” She said bank bosses had refused to change their position and that members had yet to see any sign of concessions from above.

“This has to stop,” she added. “Some workers are on as little as £19,000. We have tried to engage with management on several occasions but have failed.”

A Bank of England spokesman said plans were in place to ensure essential business would continue to operate as normal during the strike.

Addressing TUC Congress in 2014, Mr Carney said workers would have the opportunity to “maximise their pay prospects” in the coming years.

“As employment approaches its new higher level, wage pressures should increase and capital investment should continue to recover,” he said. “Productivity growth should pick up bringing the higher, sustainable pay rises that British workers deserve.”