Pay dispute escalates as Sellafield firefighters call second day of strikes

Members of the GMB union, which represents the firefighters, said the situation had “escalated” further, following a decision earlier this month to strike for 24 hours on Monday 24 July.

The second strike is scheduled for Monday 31 July. Both will begin at 06:01 BST.

GB senior organiser Chris Jukes accused Sellafield’s management of seeking to portray the firefighters as “motivated by greed”.

“However, they have failed to say that they have given managers in Fire and Rescue at Sellafield between a 12% and 32% rise in basic pay,” Jukes said.

He added: “Sellafield management have disgracefully sought to denigrate firefighters for earning shift pay. But they work 12 hour shifts for that payment and on the nuclear site that hosts the highest level of nuclear waste.”

Management and labour remain at loggerheads over the issue of safety at the site during the dispute and the hiring of private firm Securitas to provide cover.

A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said the company's priority during the action was maintaining safety levels.

“Unfortunately GMB has failed to formally guarantee that minimum fire safety levels will be maintained during this industrial action,” he said.

“We have been left with no option other than to put in place a commercial agreement with a third party provider (Securitas) to ensure safety is maintained. We cannot and will not be held to ransom on the safety of our workforce and the local community.”

Jukes insisted firefighters were committed to ensuring safety and would respond if there were a major incident at the site.