Unite and Prospect unions announce Dounreay strike dates
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Hundreds of workers at the Dounreay site will go on strike next month, unions have announced.
Unite and Prospect both said on Monday that their members would take strike action on May 1-2. Unite said its 460 members at the site would take further action on May 15 and May 29, with an overtime ban in place, while Prospect said the initial action would be followed by a work to rule.
The workers employed by Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (NRS) based at Dounreay are taking action over a pay dispute. They previously turned down an offer of a 4.5 per cent increase, backdated to April 2023.
Unite had previously warned that strike action was “inevitable” in the coming weeks, and it said NRS had a “final opportunity” to resolve the dispute by making a revised pay offer to the workforce. The company has recently changed its trading name from Magnox Limited.
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.”
Unite’s NRS membership includes craft technicians, general operators, chemical and electrical engineers, and maintenance fitters and safety advisors.
Marc Jackson, Unite industrial officer, added: “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.”
Prospect said it was the first time in a generation that its workers at the former nuclear plant, which is in the process of being decommissioned, will take this step.
Richard Hardy, national secretary at Prospect, said: “It’s massively disappointing that we’ve reached this point. Dounreay management and other public sector bodies with oversight of Dounreay have had a number of opportunities to resolve this dispute, but for whatever reason have failed to grasp them.
“Our members do not take these steps lightly, but their resolve should not be underestimated.”
Members of Unite, the GMB and Prospect voted to take action in a ballot which resulted in a huge majority in favour of going on strike – 85.5 per cent, 84.9 per cent and 72.8 per cent respectively.
The figures for taking action short of a strike were higher at 92.7 per cent (GMB), 89.8 per cent (Unite) and 87.4 per cent (Prospect).
Dounreay previously stated that it was disappointed by the results and said it was working with the unions to find a fair and affordable resolution.
It said contingency plans would be put in place “to maintain safety, security and environmental protection during any period of disruption”.
