Workers maintaining the UK's nuclear weapons are to vote on strike action, a trade union has said. Prospect said it will ballot its members working at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) amid an ongoing dispute with the company over pay.
AWE, headquartered in Aldermaston, Berkshire, supports and maintains Trident, the UK's nuclear programme which is based at HMNB Clyde in Faslane, Argyll and Bute. Prospect said the atomic weapons company recently became "an arms-length body of the MOD" with the associated freedoms on pay awards, but has offered an increase of 5%, which members have formally rejected.
An additional lump sum payment averaging £780 has also been offered. The union said the combined offer is about a 7% increase in the context of the retail price index reaching 11.8% at the pay review date of June, which members said does not address a real-terms reduction in pay.
