Economists to vote on strike action after below-inflation pay offer

NIESR's management offered an increase worth 2% while latest data shows cost of living is up 5.1%

Asking workers to stomach a below-inflation pay rise is never popular. Asking them to do so when their day job is forecasting the cost of living is really asking for trouble.

And so it has proved at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. A strike ballot opened on Wednesday for members of the Unite union after the NIESR's management offered a basic pay deal worth 2%. It comes after wages were frozen last year.