Staff are being balloted for strike action GLASSMAKERS at Pilkington are to be balloted for strike action over over an ongoing pay dispute, a union has said. More than 100 members of the Unite union at Pilkington’s Cowley Hill and Greengate sites in St Helens will be balloted for strike action. The ballot for strike action opened to staff at the historic company, which was founded in 1826 and is now owned by the Japanese Nippon Sheet Glass group, on Friday (January 28) and will close on Thursday, February 11. Unite claims that the company has refused to implement a pay rise, which was agreed with members in 2019 and set to take effect in March 2020.