{"id":878665,"date":"2025-12-18T23:17:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/sellafield-workers-laid-off-as-strike-action-over-pay-continues\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:17:01","slug":"sellafield-workers-laid-off-as-strike-action-over-pay-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/sellafield-workers-laid-off-as-strike-action-over-pay-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Sellafield workers laid off as strike action over pay continues"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Seven subcontractors have temporarily laid off staff at Sellafield nuclear plant blaming the effect of ongoing industrial action.<\/p>\n

Workers from subcontractors Altrad, Enigma, Kaefer, Stobbarts and Design Grid began a new five-day round of strike action on Monday (15 December) over an ongoing pay dispute.<\/p>\n

The Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), which represents the firms, told Construction News<\/em> that the firms had been forced to temporarily lay off staff as they were working on projects affected by industrial action taken by Unite members at the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our member companies working on projects affected by Unite\u2019s industrial action at Sellafield have been compelled to temporarily lay off some of their employees, owing to a shortage of work,\u201d the ECIA said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are disappointed to have to make this decision. All reasonable steps have been taken to avoid this outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sincerely hope these valued individuals can return to work soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven firms \u2500 two of which have workers involved in the strike \u2500 have laid off staff: Altrad, Enigma Industrial Services, Kaefer, William King Construction, PPS Electrical, ES Steel and Shepley Engineers.<\/p>\n

Union Unite has accused some employers of \u201cexploiting a legal loophole\u201d to make the layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese layoffs are taking place under a cover story of a lack of work, but in reality are retribution for strike action,\u201d Unite said.<\/p>\n

Unite said it remains committed to resolving the dispute and is calling on employers to enter into discussions with \u201ccredible solutions\u201d that recognise the unique hazards and skill set required at Sellafield.<\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Ryan Armstrong said: \u201cConstruction workers are being punished, targeted and now laid off for taking lawful, democratic industrial action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not operational decisions. They are deliberate, cynical and timed to inflict maximum pressure on workers and their families before Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

But William King Construction told CN<\/em> it had laid off six staff due to the \u201cinability to access workfaces at Sellafield as scaffolding required for the programme was unavailable during the ongoing industrial action\u201d.<\/p>\n

The workers, it said, had now been taken back on and given work at other sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese employees all had at least 18 months of work ahead of them on our projects across the Sellafield site,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to have secured alternative work for all six across our wider portfolio of projects away from the Sellafield site until the end of January.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a small, family-run business employing local people, we have done everything within our power to minimise disruption, distress and loss for our workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sellafield Ltd<\/a> said the affected firms had informed it of the temporary layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm the affected employers have shared their plans with us. While regrettable, we understand the reasons behind them,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

He said that as the people involved are not employed by Sellafield Ltd, it is not a dispute that it can resolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industrial action taking place at Sellafield is the result of a pay dispute between some Unite union members and their employers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur priority, as always, is to maintain the safety and security of the Sellafield site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have provided guidance to our employees who may be impacted in travelling to the site during the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also continue to support Cumbria Police as they work to minimise the impact of the action on the local road network.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Nicola Harley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven subcontractors have temporarily laid off staff at Sellafield nuclear plant blaming the effect of ongoing industrial action. Workers from subcontractors Altrad, Enigma, Kaefer, Stobbarts and Design Grid began a new five-day round of strike action on Monday (15 December) over an ongoing pay dispute. The Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), which represents the firms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":878666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107527,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-878665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sellafield","category-workers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}