Almost 1,000 GMB members at the packaging company will participate in the ballot, which closes 2 November. Any strike action will likely take place later that month.
This comes after GMB revealed that the cost-of-living crisis has made workers £200 a month worse off, through “no fault of their own”.
Workers in five sites – Louth in Lincolnshire, Featherstone in Yorkshire, Livingston and Clay Cross in Derbyshire, Devizes in Wiltshire and Livingston in Scotland are participating in the ballot.
DS Smith has allegedly refused to increase an offer of a 3% consolidated increase plus a non-consolidated payment of £760 for 2022 to 2023. With inflation at 12.3%, the deal amounts to a big real terms pay cut.
Huge cuts
GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast said: "DS Smith workers say the cost-of-living crush has made them £200 a month worse off, through no fault of their own.
“These are the same staff who worked through the pandemic, helping to keep the business afloat.”
The company also makes packaging for Princes, KP Snacks, Chivas and Seabrooks crisps.
Prendergast continued: “Now workers need the company to recognise their efforts with a decent pay offer that helps confront soaring inflation and eye-watering energy bills in the months ahead, rather than hanging them out to dry.
“DS Smith can afford to do better.”
Suffering sector
A DS Smith spokesperson said that with any matter of this kind, the company would not comment publicly on the details of a confidential process. However, they said discussions were ongoing and the firm would continue to work together with all those involved.
Strikes from other sectors, such as the railway industry, have already hit hospitality hard. Drivers from 12 train companies took strike action on 1 and 5 of October, after a number of strikes in the summer months which “hugely affected” hospitality.
Industrial action in June saw a 50% decline in sales at some pubs in London and Manchester.
Strikes add to the economic challenges facing the industry including soaring energy costs, the cost-of-living crisis, and rising inflation rates.