A strike by workers at the Sellafield site will continue, despite an incident yesterday which left a striker seriously injured.
Members of the Unite union are staging the walkout over a long-running battle over pay – it believes its members are entitled to a special payment for working at a nuclear site.
Yesterday, Wednesday September 17, there was a collision outside the site’s Calder Gate.
Police were called at around 8.55am.
Reports suggest the overall incident involved two vehicles – an Isuzu D-Max and a Polaris Ranger.
The Polaris Ranger was reportedly in collision with two pedestrians.
One of the pedestrians, a man aged 55, was taken to the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven with serious injuries. He remains in a serious condition.
A 39-year-old man also attended hospital. His injuries are said not to be serious at this time.
Four people – all from the local area – have been arrested in connection with the incident.
They are four males aged 16, 19, 50 and 52.
Two of the males appeared in court today, Thursday September 18.
Police said they were aware the incident caused concern in the community and said they were liaising with the organisers of the industrial action at this location to offer reassurance.
There is no wider threat to the public they said.
Cumbria police added: “Extensive investigations are continuing and police would ask people do not share any footage circulating online or speculate about the circumstances. We are aware of inaccurate speculation online.”
Anyone with information about the incident can contact police on 101, referring to incident 33 of September 17.
Unite North West regional secretary Ritchie James said: “The incident is both shocking and horrifying.
“Unite is aware that four individuals have been arrested.
“Strike action will continue for the rest of the week as planned.”
Industrial action at the West Cumbria nuclear complex began on 12.01am on Monday, September 15, and is due to run until 11.59pm on Friday September 19.
Picket lines are at all gates from 5am to 4pm.
The industrial action has been planned by the Unite union for its members covered by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry and the Construction Industry Joint Council agreements.
It involves contractors involved in civils/construction work on site and covers workers except for apprentices and those in managerial/supervisor and co-ordination roles.
The long running dispute is around the employers at Sellafield refusing to resolve requests for additional Sellafield Specific Allowances.
The requested allowances relate to Unite construction members engaging and constructing on advanced technologies projects, the union said.
It said it had asked for the introduction of a nuclear professional allowance for Unite members who are working in a unique environmental at Sellafield but claimed all requests had been refused by the firms which have contracts on the Sellafield site.
Members of Unite voted for the action last month.
The union said it represented over 1,500 workers on the site.
The workers range from electricians, joiners, pipefitters, riggers, groundworkers, welders and painters and other construction roles.
In the results papers seen by Cumbria Crack, around 1,640 members were eligible to vote and 910 votes were cast, 55.29% of those entitled to vote.
90.40% voted in favour of action – 819 voted yes and 87 voted no.
An indefinite work to rule began on Saturday, August 23.
Sellafield Ltd warned people not involved in the dispute that the industrial action may mean disruption getting on to the site. Workers are reporting up to two hours of travel time to get into work.
