Financial Times journalists have voted in favour of a 24-hour strike over proposed changes to the newspaper’s pension policy, which would be the first strike in 30 years if it goes ahead.

FT members of the National Union of Journalists have already voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking some form of industrial action over plans to scrap the final salary pension scheme. They have now voted to call for a 24-hour strike following a breakdown in talks with the newspaper’s management.

The acrimonious battle, which the NUJ has branded a £4m “pension robbery”, follows Japanese group Nikkei’s £844m takeover of FT Group last year.

“In light of the deadlock in the negotiations, we support the NUJ stance of taking strike action in defence of our common aim that the FT must honour its commitment to fair and equivalent terms and conditions for all after the Nikkei takeover,” the FT’s NUJ members said in a motion passed following a meeting on Monday. “We understand that does not rule out further talks or Acas involvement on the basis that there is room for an improved deal.”

The FT’s NUJ members voted “overwhelmingly” in support of a proposal to call a 24-hour strike with specifics, including the date, to be set later this week. “Chapel and pensions reps will continue to be open to meaningful talks aimed at resolving the outstanding issues for pension scheme members,” the FT’s NUJ chapel said.

A spokeswoman for the FT said that the proposal on the table “reaches the right and fair balance for the FT and all of our employees”. She said: “The new FT defined contribution pension plan is among the best offered anywhere. It is as good and in some cases better than the previous plan, used by the vast majority of employees.”

She added: “For the approximately 180 FT Group employees impacted by the change, in addition to maintaining all of the pension benefits they accrued in the previous plan, we are offering £13m in dedicated funding to help manage and reduce the impact on future benefits.”

The FT NUJ chapel said that the company deal is not fair and is “grossly misleading”. It said: “FT claims that they have offered £13m in concessions to final pay [defined benefit] members is grossly misleading,. Only £4m of this is an addition to the original low offer and aimed at pension accruals; much of the money on offer – including funds won to pay for financial advice for all staff – may not be taken up.”

Earlier this month a delegation from the FT NUJ chapel travelled to Tokyo to meet Nikkei management over the pensions issue.