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In sports parlance, NG Bailey appears to have lost the dressing room on the troubled Mensa project at the Aldermarston Weapons Establishment in Berkshire.
NG Bailey is working for Costain on a £1.8bn facility for assembling and disassembling nuclear warheads – a project called Mensa.
Following the walkout last week, there remains “a great deal of unrest” on the project, according to the Unite union, which accuses NG Bailey of trying to bust the union on site.
Problems began late on Friday 17th September when five workers, including four members of Unite, one of whom was a health & safety representative, were informed that they had to leave the site immediately. No reason for this removal has been provided, the union said.
There then followed a walkout of the workforce on Monday 20th September in support of the Friday five.
After Unite intervened, the five affected workers were transferred to other projects. According to Unite, NG Bailey has refused to provide the reasons for the removal of the workers and has blamed the principal contractor Costain and the client AWE for that decision. [We have asked NG Bailey for corroboration of this point.]
Unite has issued a set of demands to avoid any repeat of the situation.
- an agreement on a procedure for dealing with similar situations where workers are made aware of the charges against them and can answer them
- an apology from the project team to the five affected workers, a proper investigation and re-instatement onto the project
- a guarantee that removal of security passes on this project does not prevent future employment through blacklisting by the client or contractor
- compensation for the loss of earnings of those taking part in action to support colleagues.
Unite regional officer Malcolm Bonnett said: “Unite is committed to stamping out this clear attempt at union busting on the AWE project. Enormous credit must be given to the workforce for standing up for their fellow workers, which has forced the employer to ensure that the affected workers were given alternative employment.
“It is simply unjust that workers have been removed from the project without warning or a reason given, this must not be allowed to ever re-occur. If NG Bailey do not agree to Unite’s demands then there is set to be further discontent on the project and a collapse in morale, which will affect productivity.”
The Mensa project is six years behind schedule and £400m over budget. A National Audit Office report in January 2020 attribute this to starting construction with ‘immature’ designs. Construction work has been completed and the facility is now being fitted out with the necessary equipment and machinery. It is currently expected to be operational in 2023.
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