NORTH SEA caterers are set to be the first offshore workers in a generation to go on strike, after bosses refused to honour a modest pay rise agreed under a two-year deal.

Employers covered by the Catering Offshore Trade Association (Cota), including facilities giants Aramark, Compass and Sodexo, were yesterday served notice of the ballot, which will run for six weeks.

Workers’ pay was set to rise by 1.3 per cent for the second half of a two-year pay deal.

Unite, which organises the caterers, said that industrial action was necessary to “prevent a damaging race to the bottom.

“Even against the backdrop of oil price volatility and industry pressure, Cota employers’ profits run into billions and it is unacceptable that our agreement, negotiated in good faith, is now being ignored,” the union’s industrial officer John Boland said.