CIVILIAN staff at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases – home to Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent – have started a series of strikes in a dispute over workers’ rights.
Members of the Unite union, whose work involves radiation monitoring, weapons support, cleaning, logistics, maintenance and repairs, are taking action over what they claim is a “systematic campaign to undermine workers” by their employer Babcock Marine.
As well as Trident, the Royal Navy’s entire submarine fleet is to be based at the site from 2020. A continuous overtime and on-call ban started at midnight on Friday and will affect all areas at the bases, including the nuclear operations department, said Unite. Union members will also begin a series of staggered periods of strike action up to June 15.
Unite said Babcock Marine was considering the outsourcing of services to private companies, but the company said it “absolutely refutes” the allegations against it.
Stephen Deans, Unite’s regional officer, said: “Our members have been forced into this action today. Management at Babcock Marine have engineered a complete breakdown of normal relations with workers. Our fear is that they want to try and undermine workers’ rights so they can cut jobs and service quality through more outsourcing.”
In a statement, Babcock Marine said: “Babcock is disappointed and perplexed by Unite’s actions. Through the conciliation service Acas and ongoing direct discussions, Unite tabled a number of issues they wanted to discuss with us. We have accommodated these points, offering reasonable solutions to all of the issues. We are not clear, therefore, on the purpose of this strike action. We absolutely refute the allegations that we are attempting to undermine our relationship with the trade union and wider workforce, or that we are engaged in a wide-ranging plan to outsource services.”
The firm said it was working with the 1,100 Babcock employees not involved in the action to minimise any impact to operations.
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