AWE Workers To Lobby Over Pensions 'Betrayal'

Workers at AWE plc - the Atomic Weapons Establishment – will be lobbying MPs over their pensions' 'betrayal' at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday 6 December.

The lobby will coincide with a second 24-hour strike on Tuesday 6 December by members of Unite the union and dispute over the threat to close the defined benefit pension scheme and substitute it with an inferior alternative.

Chaired by Ian Mearns MP speakers at the lobby include: Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, Untie AWE rep Scott Kemp, Angela Rayner MP and Ian Lavery MP, as well Unite south east regional secretary Jennie Formby.

• Venue: Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, London

•Time: 12:30 – 15:00

Hundreds of employees will also be striking at AWE's two sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, following the first one-day strike on 14 November.

Unite regional officer Bob Middleton said: "It was in the House of Commons a quarter of century ago that the then-Tory government made cast-iron promises to AWE workers regarding the future of their pensions, once they transferred to the private sector.

"It is, therefore, fitting that AWE workers return to lobby parliament on Tuesday and make appointments to see their local MPs so that the AWE management does not backtrack on those pension pledges. Our members feel deeply betrayed."

Unite members, who work as managers, and craft and manual workers, are particularly irked at broken promises made by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the early 1990s, which was underpinned by a ministerial statement to the Commons.

The union said that if those promises had been honoured it would not have precipitated plans to close the scheme at the end of the year.

Unite members have voted by 92 per cent for strike action and by 97 per cent for industrial action short of a strike.