Nuclear power plant workers to strike over pay dispute

Nuclear power plant workers will go on strike next month in a pay dispute.

Unite the union has said its 460-strong membership at the Dounreay complex in Caithness, Highlands, have voted to walk out in May along with an overtime ban.

Workers are tasked with cleaning up the complex, which operated as a nuclear plant from 1955 until 1994.

Unite members will take strike action on May 1 and 2, with more action scheduled for May 15 and 29, along with colleagues from the GMB union.

The workforce is employed by Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (NRS), which recently changed its trading name from Magnox Limited, and was told it had a “final opportunity” to resolve the dispute by making a revised pay offer.

Craft technicians, general operators, chemical and electrical engineers, and maintenance fitters and safety advisers will walk out.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members at Dounreay are a highly skilled and dedicated workforce, it is disgraceful that the management at NRS think that a substantial real terms pay cut is in any way acceptable.

“Unite will back our members at Dounreay power station all the way in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”

The pay dispute centres on a pay offer of 4.5% effective from April 2023 which was overwhelmingly rejected by members.

The union said that the offer “amounts to a substantial real terms pay cut, the true rate of inflation, RPI stood at 11.4% when the pay increase was due”.

The membership backed strike action by 85.5% on a high turnout of 82.3%.

Marc Jackson, Unite industrial officer, said: “NRS is burying its head in the sand.

“We have repeatedly told them that our members will not accept a derisory pay offer. Instead of getting back round the negotiating table after our members emphatically backed strike action, NRS has continued to string the workforce along.

“The games being played by NRS are now at an end with the announcement of these strike days.

“This situation is entirely of NRS’s own making because this dispute could easily be resolved, by the employer making a fair pay offer to its workers.”