SCOTS workers are being faced with pay freezes or below-inflation increases because of Brexit, the country’s largest union has claimed.

Unite says it has gathered evidence that suggests opportunistic employers are seizing the implications of Britain’s departure from the EU to use as a lever to push down pay offers to staff.

The union also claims it has uncovered examples of some companies using Brexit to avoid paying annual holiday pay and overtime pay.

Today, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey raised the prospect of an increasing number of clashes between employers and workers, warning: “Unite is putting employers on notice, they need to realise that if they use Brexit as an excuse for attacking workers’ pay and conditions, we will challenge and expose them.

“These are early results but we are already beginning to see a clear pattern that employers are already opportunistically using Brexit as an excuse to attack the terms and conditions of workers.”

Private sector workers have endured years of low pay rises following fall-out from the 2008 banking crisis and subsequent economic downturn.

A recent report commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Adecco Group, warned that UK employers expect to raise pay of workers by just one per cent on average over the next 12 months.

Inflation is currently sitting at 2.6 per cent, and is widely expected to rise above three per cent later this year – tightening the squeeze on household budgets even further.

The union is now developing a Brexit database to help it analyse the impact of Britain’s departure from the EU on the nation’s workforce. It claims early indications show Brexit and freedom of movement are the two biggest issues at stake during wage negotiations. It also claims it has been used as an excuse for threats to pension schemes, reduction in trade union facility times and attempts to block representatives sitting on European Work Councils. It says Unite reps have also reported occasions in which employers have cancelled or postponed new investment because of Brexit, and where it has been used as a threat to relocate jobs, often overseas.

However, it added Brexit has also been used in a positive way, with one employer agreeing to an inflation-busting pay rise in order to create workforce security in the face of Brexit.

Mr McCluskey added: “Where workers are well organised they have been able to call the employers bluff and have overturned pay freezes and below-inflation offers and secured decent pay increases. “We are urging the Government to work with trade unions to gauge the impact of Brexit on workplaces and communities.”

The union’s findings come after a series of employee conflicts with bosses over pay which have led to industrial action.

On Friday, employees at Chivas Brothers’ bottling plants in Dumbarton and Paisley agreed to a below inflation pay rise of 1.9 per cent. Workers at the Dumbarton plant had earlier walked out after talks aimed at settling their claim for a pay rise and harmonisation with t heir Paisley colleagues broke down.

In England, burger giant McDonald’s may be facing its first strike on British soil after workers at two of its fast-food outlets supported a call for industrial action over pay.

Staff at restaurants in Cambridge and in Crayford, south-east London, voted in favour of a strike amid concerns over working conditions and the use of zero-hour contracts. They are demanding a wage of £10 a hour and more secure working hours.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Carlsberg has said he cannot rule out British job cuts, as it powers ahead with efficiency plans.

It axed more than 2,000 jobs last year, and has plans to outsource beer distribution in the UK, impacting around 900 jobs by March 2018.

A spokeswoman for the Institute of Directors said: “It is clear from recent surveys of IoD members that Brexit is having an effect on business confidence, which will have some impact on business decisions. This is not opportunism, simply financial reality.”