Employees at the Bank of England begun voting on whether to take industrial action on Thursday, after a pays increases were seen as “derisory” by the Unite union.

The Unite union has called the bank “arrogant” and “out of touch” after offering staff a below-inflation pay increase of around 1 percent.

Unite regional officer Mercedes Sanchez said: “The bank’s disgraceful snub of low-paid staff stinks of arrogance and represents an organisation thoroughly out of touch with the reality of the pressure staff face meeting their costs of living.

“It is a source of shame that an iconic symbol of financial services in the UK is choosing to ride roughshod over the concerns of its dedicated and hardworking staff and impose this derisory pay deal.”

The Bank of England’s 3,600 staff will vote today on whether to support the action, and the Bank of England has declined to comment.