Dounreay staff ready to take strike action in pay row

Workers at Dounreay have rejected the current pay offer from Cavendish Nuclear, the company which owns the plant. Cavendish Nuclear is a subsidiary of Babcock International.

The three unions - Unite, Prospect, and GMB - have all conducted consultative ballots with their members on the current 1.75% offer from Cavendish Nuclear. The union members voted by more than 70% to reject the offer. The unions are now going to ballot for industrial action, including an overtime ban, working to rule and strike action. The company will be notified of this on Thursday 23rd November.

Unite’s full time officer Richard Whyte said: “We expect there will be overwhelming support for industrial action, including strike action. In recent years Dounreay workers have been trapped by the public sector pay cap. So whilst Cavendish Nuclear counts their profits in millions the living standards of the workers at the plant are going down, down, down.”

John Deighan is the Unite conveyor at Dounreay. He said: “Obviously for a time the workers were prepared to make sacrifices to safeguard their jobs. But they feel it’s now time to get a decent pay deal to make up for the years of the pay cap and ‘austerity wages’. The company has made plenty in recent years and can definitely afford to pay more than the less than 2% that’s been put on the table so far”.

If workers vote for industrial action - it will begin towards the end of January. That timescale is dictated by current industrial laws.

John Deighan said “We’ve had enough. Enough of tightening our belts whilst the company is making millions. Enough of austerity wages. And enough of promises that there will be jam tomorrow from Cavendish Nuclear.”