Cruachan workers to be balloted on strike action

Employees at Cruachan Power Station in Argyll are to be balloted over strike action.

 

Workers employed by Drax Hydro Limited, which operates the Cruachan Power Station near Loch Awe and two other power stations near Castle Douglas and Lanark, will be balloted by Unite the Union.

 

This follows the rejection of an eight per cent pay rise.

 

Unite say this isn't enough, with the rate of inflation sitting at 13.4 per cent in December 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.

 

A Drax spokesperson said: "Drax offered a full and final pay settlement of eight per cent over 15 months - three months backdated, making it worth 10 per cent.

 

"As part of the negotiations, we have extended an offer to include comprehensive benefits including medical and income protection, but this has not been tabled back to members by negotiating unions."

 

Around 5o Unite members will participate in the ballot, which will be open from February 1 to February 22.

 

Strike action could result in Scottish businesses experiencing energy shocks, with Drax Hydro normally supplying businesses and only supplying consumers when there is a shortage in the system.

 

Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said: "Energy workers’ pay is lagging well behind the eye-watering profits being made across the sector.

 

"Drax’s parent group is awash with tens of millions in profit. Yet, Drax Hydro workers have been offered what amounts to a significant real terms wage cut. This is totally unacceptable.

 

"We will fully support our members in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions."

 

If the ballot is successful, strike action could take place in early March. Unite plans to ballot engineers, plant controllers and mechanical and electrical craft workers.

 

A consultative ballot in December 2022 indicated strike action was supported by 84.9 per cent of Unite members.

 

Drax Hydro posted its latest accounts on Companies House in July 2022, indicating the company had made profits totalling £2.3 million in 2021.

 

Elaine Dougall, Unite regional co-ordinating officer, said: "The pay offer on the table by Drax Hydro doesn't come close to meeting the fair and reasonable demands of our members.

 

"The Drax Group, like all energy companies, is benefiting from price hikes across the board.

 

"If there is no improved wage offer, our members are set to take strike action in the coming weeks.

 

"This could directly hit energy supplies to Scottish businesses.

 

"Drax Hydro must explain why it is prepared to jeopardise the precarious position of many Scottish businesses rather than working to resolve this dispute."

 

It comes amid Drax's plans to expand Cruachan and create the first new pumped storage hydro plant in the UK in almost 40 years.

 

A Drax spokesperson said: “We have put forward a fair and competitive pay settlement which rewards our valued colleagues and is significantly above the national average.

 

''We will continue to work with the unions to find a resolution which avoids strike action at our Scottish hydro power stations.

 

"We have plans in place to ensure there will be no impact on electricity supplies should the action go ahead in Scotland."