Engineering news
A ballot of about 5,000 members of the GMB and Unite unions opened this morning over a dispute with management at the Cumbria site, which processes huge amounts of nuclear waste.
The strike action looms after months of disagreement over wages at the plant, which employs about 10,000 people.
What is the dispute over?
In June, operators Sellafield Ltd offered workers a 1.5% pay rise but Sellafield’s GMB members wholeheartedly rejected the offer, with 88% voting against it. The union says the below-inflation offer – the RPI rate is currently 3.5% – would amount to a real-terms pay cut.
GMB said workers accepted a pay rise of 0.25% last year “in order to stop Sellafield management from cutting the pay of apprentices”. Under government changes, two thirds of employees at the reprocessing plant also face paying an extra 2-6% to their pensions from next year.
What do organisers say?
“Pay at Sellafield for all but the top brass has failed to keep pace with inflation in recent years and it came as no surprise to GMB when our members voted by a ratio of nine-to-one to reject Sellafield Ltd’s pay offer, which is less than half the RPI inflation rate,” said Chris Jukes, senior GMB organiser.
Management have “chipped away relentlessly” at terms and conditions, Jukes claimed.
“In the circumstances, we now have no alternative but to ask our members if they are willing to take strike action in order to achieve a pay offer in line with inflation.”
What is Sellafield Ltd.’s response?
“We've offered our workforce an unconditional 1.5% increase this year - which is an increase to our wage bill of over £12m year-on-year,” a Sellafield spokesman said to the BBC. “Like all publicly funded organisations we have to control costs and insure we are delivering value for money for the tax payer, so we're implementing a pay award which we feel is fair, reasonable and, most importantly, affordable.”
What will happen?
Sellafield Ltd reportedly said another union has already accepted the pay rise. The strike ballot is open until September 4.
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