AN MP made an 11th-hour bid last night to prevent the first strike action in the 27-year history of a flagship North-East factory.

The 510 shop floor workers at dump-truck maker Caterpillar Peterlee Ltd will down tools for 24-hours from 8am today, in the first of a planned series of weekly day-long strikes in a pay and conditions row at the east Durham plant.

It follows an overwhelming vote in favour of the action by the members of the AEEU union, angry at a three-year pay freeze and new contracts of employment issued by the US-owned company.

AEEU shop stewards said strike action was "the only realistic option", after they failed to persuade management to bring in the advisory and conciliation service Acas.

But on the eve of the first strike Easington MP John Cummings appealed to the firm to consider referring the matter to arbitration.

He said: "To my knowledge there has been a history of excellent industrial relations between the work- force and management at the Peterlee plant. Over the 27 years of operations at Peterlee, I cannot recall a single labour dispute.

"I am willing to facilitate a referral to Acas if this would be conducive to resolving the current dispute."

His letter to managing director Richard Cooper stated: "Caterpillar is an important manufacturer and one of our flagship companies in the North-East.

"It would be in the best interests of all concerned if the dispute can be resolved speedily and amicably.

"In my experience a responsible third party such as Acas has been extremely useful in finding common ground and acting as an "honest broker" to reach agreement in these circumstances."

Mr Cummings said he would be happy to meet Mr Cooper either in London or in the constituency to discuss the situation.

But last night, Caterpillar human resources manager Frank Siddle said: "We consider this as an internal matter yet to be resolved and we would like to resolve it directly with our employees.

"From our perspective, we have yet to exhaust our internal procedures."

But AEEU works convenor Kelvin Wood said "due to the company's unreasonable demands" the strike was scheduled to go ahead, with pickets at the North West Industrial Estate entrances from 8am today.