By Alan Irving

Last updated at 21:46, Wednesday, 01 July 2009

ALLEGATIONS that “bribery and blackmail” were used to coerce Sellafield workers into accepting a pay deal are to be heard at an industrial tribunal.

Two unions – GMB and Unite – are bringing the case against Sellafield Ltd aimed at winning financial compensation for thousands of members on the site.

This is believed to be the first hearing of its kind in British industry.

“It is going to tribunal and we are just waiting for a date,” said Whitehaven-based GMB regional organiser Steve Gibbons.

He added: “The company are not prepared to settle.”

The case stems from last year’s long running pay dispute when general and craft workers took industrial action after balloting to refuse the company’s pay offer.

And the unions claim that only the risk of losing a £1500 “goodbye” bonus from BNFL before handing over the site to Nuclear Management Partners last November led to most of the workforce having a change of heart and accepting the pay offer.

Steve Gibbons said: “It was a form of bribery. We were told in negotiations there would be no further pay offer, that unless we settled and the industrial action called off by a certain date our members would lose the £1500 transition bonus from BNFL.

“We have since taken legal advice on the basis of what the company did was wrong or illegal. We believe the £1500 bonus had nothing to do with the pay dispute and should not have been offered in the way it was. We went from a 90 per cent rejection to an acceptance of the pay offer. There is no doubt the £1500 tipped the scales.

“Blackmail and bribery are strong terms but we didn’t use them lightly at the time. This in effect is what the management were doing, they were blackmailing our members into accepting a derisory offer,” Mr Gibbons claimed.

Sellafield Ltd strongly refute the claims.

The company said yesterday it could not comment further because “it is an on going legal matter.”

The unions seek a financial settlement under which compensation would be shared out among members on the site but as yet no figures have been mentioned.

In a previous statement, Sellafield Ltd said: “The transition bonus was never on the table as part of any negotiations. We felt it right and proper to inform our employees of the likely impact of substantial industrial action in order to make a balanced and informed decision.”

Asked whether the unions would be calling witnesses to give evidence at the tribunal, Steve Gibbons said: “It depends what is disputed, and what is not.”

Lawyers representing both sides will be testing the issues in a separate case management hearing pending the tribunal

A new deal guaranteeing above inflation pay rises over the next two days has been amicably agreed by the 10,000 Sellafield Ltd industrials and staff after ballots.

Unions and executive management have since signed “a partnering charter” aimed at improving future relationships.

First published at 15:46, Wednesday, 01 July 2009
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk