Ryan FowlerUnite the union confirmed that its 460-strong membership employed by Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (NRS) based at Dounreay power station will take strike action in a pay dispute.
Unite’s members will take strike action on 1 and 2 May with more action scheduled for the 15 and 29 May. There will also be an overtime ban in place.
The union 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.”
The pay dispute centres on an inadequate pay offer of 4.5 per cent effective from April 2023 which was overwhelmingly rejected by members. The offer amounts to a substantial real terms pay cut, the true rate of inflation, RPI stood at 11.4 per cent, when the pay increase was due.
Unite’s NRS membership includes craft technicians, general operators, chemical and electrical engineers, and maintenance fitters and safety advisors. The membership backed strike action by 85.5 per cent on a high turnout of 82.3 per cent.
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’ own making because this dispute could easily be resolved, by the employer making a fair pay offer to its workers.”
The remuneration package of the highest paid NRS (formerly Magnox) director went up from £331,000 to £651,000 at March 2023, and the company paid dividends of £2.1 million in the same period.
