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Hundreds of staff at Matalan鈥檚 distribution centre have voted in favour of a day鈥檚 strike action over a dispute over pay.

Up to 500 employees based at the company鈥檚 warehouse in Knowsley, Merseyside, could walk out for 24 hours at 2pm on August 19.

GMB Union workers voted to walk out after management made a pay offer which will see some workers get 1.5 per cent聽 - a rise which the Union said was equivalent to a real terms pay cut.

Matalan said most workers were getting a rise that was among the highest offered in its sector.

The Knowsley distribution centre services e-commerce and store supplies across the north of England and Scotland

GMB said it wasn鈥檛 too late for management 鈥榯o work out a fair deal鈥� and warned further strike days will follow.

Stephen Boden, GMB Organiser, said: 鈥淭his industrial action is a result of Matalan management making a frankly insulting pay offer.

鈥淗ow can they expect hard working staff to accept real terms a pay cut?

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not too late for management to listen to workers and get back round the table with us to work out a fair deal.鈥�

The 1.5% offer is understood to apply to only around a quarter of the workers at the site and who work on weekend shifts.

A spokesperson for Matalan said: "It is reassuring that the vast majority of those working in the Knowsley Distribution centre did not vote for industrial action.

"We are deeply disappointed that even a small portion of union members voted in favour of industrial action. Especially given this went against the previous full recommendation of their own union, following over 5 months of negotiations.聽聽聽聽聽

鈥淥ur offer of a 4.7% pay increase for all of our distribution centre staff on core shifts was the largest our company has ever offered without any other changes to T&Cs.聽 In addition, it is well above inflation and cost of living increases as well as amongst the highest offered in our sector.

鈥淲e are proud to be a major employer in the North West, centred around our Knowsley headquarters, and constantly strive to balance the needs of our employees and their long-term job security with the wider needs of the business. We will do everything possible to minimise disruption to our colleagues and customers.鈥�

The news of the strike comes weeks after Matalan announced it was bringing 200 new jobs to Knowsley to meet the growing demand of online shopping.

The retailer said it was 鈥渢hrilled to be in a position to invest in new jobs for our community, despite the well-documented challenges facing the wider sector, and to offer colleagues a new option for managing their work/life balance.鈥�

Earlier this year Matalan,聽 which has more than 200 stores across the country, reported revenues of 拢1.1bn for the year to the end of February 2019 with profit before tax of 拢30.1m.