Fears are mounting over disruption to UK bottle supplies after workers at Encirc’s Elton site announced an escalation in industrial action.

More than 100 Unite members at the glass manufacturing and logistics firm have already walked out in protest over health and safety concerns following the company’s decision to cut almost 30 roles.

While those redundancies have now gone ahead, workers say the impact of reduced staffing levels on health, safety and wellbeing has not been properly addressed.

Unite members claim they are leaving shifts “physically fatigued and mentally drained”, raising concerns that the site could become more dangerous to operate.

In addition to planned strike action from 3 to 7 April, workers will now also walk out on night shifts from 16 to 28 April and again from 9 to 15 May.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Further strike action will no doubt be disruptive to Encirc’s operations, but it is entirely the fault of the employer.

“By implementing redundancies, Encirc put profits over people. Encirc must now provide meaningful solutions to workers’ legitimate concerns and our members there continue to have our full support.”

Encirc is a major manufacturer and filler of glass bottles for a wide range of alcoholic and no/low alcohol brands, including Jameson, Baileys, Budweiser and Coors, as well as supermarket own-label wine.

The escalating action is expected to put further pressure on supplies from the Elton site, raising the prospect of bottle shortages affecting a number of popular drinks brands in the coming months.

The dispute comes despite strong financial performance from Encirc’s parent company, Vidrala, which recently reported full-year 2025 net profit of more than £192m.

Unite regional officer Andrew Johnson said: “Encirc management has failed to come back to talks around how to solve the problems with health, safety and wellbeing, so members there have felt they have had no choice but to escalate strike action.

“With so many dates of action, this will have a significant impact on Encirc’s operations. There is still time for Encirc to halt this by returning to negotiations.”

Encirc has yet to publicly set out how it plans to address the union’s concerns as the dispute intensifies.

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning