Over 500 workers at the Dounreay nuclear power station in the Scottish Highlands will strike this week due to a dispute over pay.
Unite union members at the plant will engage in a 24-hour strike on Wednesday after rejecting a revised pay offer from their employer, Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS).
The union members will also support an overtime ban starting Thursday, May 15.
NRS had proposed a one-off £500 payment in addition to a basic 4.5 percent pay increase.
However, Unite reported 80 percent of its members, out of a 92 percent turnout, rejected the deal, citing it as a “significant real terms pay cut.”
The union pointed out that when the pay increase was due in April 2023, inflation, as measured by the retail price index, was at 11.4 percent.
Another day of industrial action is scheduled for May 29, and Unite has warned of additional strikes if NRS does not make further concessions.
NRS expressed disappointment at the decision but stated it remains committed to finding a “fair and reasonable” resolution.
Craft technicians, general operators, chemical and electrical engineers, maintenance fitters, and safety advisers are among the striking workers.
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Unite said the highest-paid NRS director’s remuneration package increased from £331,000 to £651,000 by March 2023, while the company paid dividends of £2.1 million during the same period.
Marc Jackson, Unite’s industrial officer, declared that offers amounting to a “significant pay cut” would not be tolerated.
He added: “We have a growing membership at Dounreay, which is down to the hard work of our shop stewards, and NRS need to realise, if they don’t already, that we are heading for prolonged industrial action.
“Unite is actively looking at further days of action because NRS seem incapable of resolving this dispute through negotiation.
“The company should be under no illusions as to the determination of our members to get the pay rise they deserve.”
