by New Worker correspondent

Proficiency at snooker was once said to be the sign of a mis-spent youth. Not so these days, Snooker, billiard and tennis players will be hoping that the strike at WSP Textiles in Gloucestershire will be brief.

Strikes by 50 workers started on Monday and will continue until 23 January. It will see nearly 50 workers head to the picket line, bringing the factory to a standstill and orders going unfulfilled. For the first time in history, workers making professional cloth and tennis ball material are up in arms having rejected a below-inflation 2.35 per cent pay offer. Most earn just above the minimum wage and haven’t had an above-inflation pay rise in years.

At the Lodgemore Mills in Stroud and Cam Mills near Dursley the cloth manufactured is used in tennis balls made by leading manufacturers such as Wilson, Slazenger and Dunlop, which are used at Wimbledon and the French and Australian Open competitions. Their snooker baize is used to cover tables used in World Snooker Tour tournaments in the UK, USA and China.

The company made almost £1.4 million in profits in 2024 on a £23 million revenue. While the highest paid director earns nearly £100,000, production line workers earn under £13 per hour.

Unite regional officer Michael Hobbs said that: “WSP need to come back to the negotiating table with a much better offer or major tennis and snooker events could be under threat and WSP will be rightly blamed.” General Secretary Sharon Graham added that: “Workers at WSP do an extremely skilled job that allows highly paid sports stars to bring pleasure to millions around the world. This is a profitable company which is attempting to deny its workers fair pay. Our members will have the full support of their union in this fight.”