A war of words has broken out between management and unions at Sellafield.

Unite, which has 2,000 members on the site, has hit out at managers of after its requests meetings to discuss a ballot for an ongoing pay dispute were "blocked".

Sellafield though have said the union's request would "disrupt" work if it was agreed to.

Workers at the site rejected a 1.5 per cent pay rise in June, which was offered by site operator Sellafield Limited.

This has led to members of both Unite and the GMB being balloted over strike action.

The GMB opened its ballot on Monday while Unite will be sending out papers in the next few weeks.

A spokeswoman for Sellafield said that Unite requested five meetings on the ballot over five days and confirmed this was turned down.

Unite regional officer Graham Williams said: “The management is slavishly kowtowing to the pay diktats of the government which puts austerity economics at the top of the agenda, which is especially insulting given that we have a highly skilled workforce employed in a safety critical industry.

“The 1.5 cent offer is completely unacceptable, given that the RPI (Retail Price Index) inflation rate is running at 3.6 per cent, and the workers at Sellafield have had a succession of low pay awards recently.

“Unite was organising a number of mass meetings in the coming weeks so we could properly and rightfully engage with our members to explain the situation. Unfortunately, we have been told that the company has refused to grant both facilities and facility time for us to hold the meetings."

He added: “This is unprecedented. Sellafield management’s attempt to stifle free and open dialogue is truly disappointing, but hardly surprising in the present austerity-driven climate.

“As a result, we are currently arranging a number of meetings off the Sellafield site in the local community. We will share these times, dates and venues in the coming days and urge our members to attend one of these important the off-site gatherings.”

The spokeswoman said: “Unite requested a series of meetings on different days, apparently to canvass the views of their members regarding balloting for industrial action.

"Although they’ve not communicated with us directly on the subject, Unite has already publicly announced their intention to ballot for industrial action. As such, we feel it is in nobody’s interests to disrupt important work on site when their decision has already been made.”