UK nuclear weapons engineers threaten industrial action
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Jan 4, IRNA
UK Strike-Nuclear Weapons
Britain is facing the likelihood of the first industrial action ever taken by nearly 7,000 scientists, engineers and production workers who build the country's Trident nuclear warheads, it was reported Friday.
Workers are planning to ballot on taking action against the Ministry of Defence plans for a five-fold increase in their pension contributions.
Any strike action would be the first of the kind since twin Atomic Weapons Establishments were set up at Aldermaston and Burghfield, west of London, in the 1950s.
It comes after the facilities were partly-privatized 16 years ago.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the main reason for the dispute is over the government reneging on an undertaking to protect staff from pension cuts and redundancies at the time of the part- privatization.
Staff pension provisions have been funded by the Ministry of Defence but the government was now planning to scrap this and increase contributions from workers from 1.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, at an average annual cost of Pnds 1,000 (Dlrs 2,000).
Civil servants have already been protesting at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision to curb pay increases and make staff redundant across government departments and agencies following a tough spending round.
The prospect of industrial action also comes after the government announced controversial plans last year to upgrade the submarine- based Trident nuclear missiles, despite being accused of breaching the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty to disarm.
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