Acas talks on civilian strike at naval bases end without agreement

Talks to resolve a civilian strike at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases have ended without agreement.

Industrial action started last week with members of the Unite union - who work in roles involving radiation monitoring, weapons support, cleaning, logistics, maintenance and repairs - taking part in an overtime ban and a series of staggered strikes.

The union claims there has been a ''systematic campaign to undermine workers'' by employer Babcock Marine, who refute the allegations.

Discussions at Acas were held over the last two days but ended on Friday without resolution, Unite said.

Faslane is home to Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent and the Royal Navy's entire submarine fleet is to be based at the site from 2020.

Unite regional officer Stephen Deans said: "Unite put forward a range of proposals that we believed would address our members' concerns and resolve this dispute.

"Unfortunately, Babcock Marine has chosen to disregard most of these and instead provided a set of counter-proposals which fail to address our concerns in any meaningful way.

"Only last week Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey addressed the workers at a mass meeting in Helensburgh. He made it clear then that the members have our full support.

"We will not back down from this. Babcock Marine will have to rethink their plan.

"No-one wants this dispute to drag on but we will not be daunted by the company's intransigence towards our members' concerns."