HUNDREDS of workers at Southampton BAT factory will go on strike tomorrow after rejecting a last ditch pay offer by two to one.

The Millbrook factory will see picket lines on the gates and suppliers are being told not to cross.

Bosses at the tobacco giant had tabled a 5.6 per cent pay increase spread over two years after a 2.6 per cent one year deal provoked a strike among the plant's Amicus union members, who number about 390.

But the two to one against result indicates support for the action has actually increased after members initially voted by 195 to 119 to strike.

Amicus has announced workers intend to walk out every Wednesday until the dispute is resolved.

Spokesman Mike Budd said: "Action will now come tomorrow unless there are any last-minute moves by the company. The door is still open for them to come up with a sensible offer."

Walkouts could have widespread consequences, not only for production at the factory, which produces hundreds of cigarettes each second, but for Southampton docks where it is the biggest customer and for a range of suppliers and contractors.

The company has put in place contingency plans and aims to surprise workers with the level of production achieved despite the action.

Industrial action inevitably hits the reputation of the plant with both BAT hierarchy and clients. The Southampton facility is the only production facility remaining in the country and is burdened by high UK production costs.

Industrial action in Southampton comes against a troubled background for other European BAT factories.

The Zevenaar factory in the Netherlands is to make 180 redundancies in a drive to reduce manufacturing costs, while Murray Sons & Company, a subsidiary of BAT has

proposed the closure of its Belfast pipe tobacco plant.

A spokesman for the company said: "We are extremely disappointed that this action is going ahead. The revised two-year offer comes at critical time for our business, the reduction of costs is a high priority not just for us but across our European business and this action threatens to compromise all our collective efforts to date.

"This will benefit no one. We believe the offer we have made is a fair one. In BAT we continue to offer terms and conditions which are hard to match in the Southampton area."

BAT, which employs 1,200 people in Southampton at an average salary of £26,000, made global profits of £1.54 billion in the first nine months of the financial year.

The 26-acre Millbrook plant makes brands such as Rothmans and Dunhill for export outside the EU.