Berkshire AWE workers to vote on strike action
A union says a restructuring programme is 'shambolic'
Atomic weapons workers are to vote on strike action at AWE.
Prospect trade union described a ‘shambolic‘ reorganisation leaving staff ‘in the dark’, putting hundreds of roles at risk.
It is blaming poor consultation from senior management at the organisation which builds and maintains the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The ballot will open on January 19 and run for three weeks, and will ask if members are willing to take strike action, and if they are willing to take action short of a strike.
The ballot covers staff working at AWE sites including at Aldermaston and Burghfield.
The MOD says the workforce is being reshaped to deliver the Government’s committment to the nuclear deterrent and says in the event of industrial action contingency measures will be implemented.
In November, AWE told staff it would be embarking on a restructuring programme with around 7,000 roles in scope for 400 to 500 redundancies, while a further 750 posts are being recruited for.
AWE has since increased the number of potential redundancies to 800, but, says the uniin, has refused to provide Prospect with the information necessary to understand and challenge the restructure.
The Government recently committed to a £15bn investment in a new nuclear warhead programme, but Prospect warns that this investment risks being derailed if this restructure continues to cause internal chaos.
Shambolic
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: “There are few more skilled and qualified people in the UK than the nuclear specialists at AWE, they deserve to be treated with significantly more respect by their employer and not subjected to shambolic processes such as this reorganisation.
“AWE is like a family for those who work there who take huge pride in the job they do protecting the country.
“Systematically excluding staff from any meaningful input into the process of reorganisation inevitably causes them they worry about the very future of the organisation.
“These are highly skilled experts who know their bit of the operation inside out.
“Every day they make critical decisions on issues of national security and nuclear safety, but they have been driven to the brink by the way their leaders have behaved in recent months.
“Our members deserve to be treated like the highly skilled and intelligent adults that they are, not kept in the dark about key issues that affect their future.
“If AWE do not agree to our reasonable asks then we will have no choice but to proceed with industrial action.”