Hundreds of engineers at a major defence firm building RAF Typhoons and F35 vertical take-off fighters for our new Royal Navy aircraft carriers are downing tools in a row over pay. And it’s feared the 416 staff walk-out at BAE Systems at two Lancashire sites in Warton and Samlesbury could affect our nation’s future defence and NATO capacity as they also work on our future sixth-gen Tempest fighter aimed to take on Russian planes
The workers are also set to stop working overtime, travelling off-site, doing additional training, or taking on any voluntary roles. The Unite union says the strike will “cripple production” at the two sites. BAE Samlesbury designs, builds and tests military aircraft, including components for the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet—now used on the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
BAE Warton manufactures parts for current military aircraft like the Eurofighter Typhoon and Hawk Jet Trainer and is the UK base for the future Tempest combat aircraft – a sixth-generation RAF fighter to enter service from 2035.
BAE Systems havs stressed despite the planned disruptive strike action from November 5 to November 25 it is “determined to continue to deliver.”
The Unite union said its 5,000 members working for BAE Systems at sites in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire had voted to strike after rejecting a pay offer of 3.6%.
The 416 members who come from four sections of the company, including manufacturing and quality control, will take the first of the planned strike action that runs across most of November.
BAE Systems has hit back, saying the pay offer was fair and had been accepted by all 18 of the union’s bargaining groups in the UK, and accused the union of “attempting to disrupt the critical work” they do.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “We believe the company’s offer, which includes enhancements to pay and pensions and has been accepted by all 18 of the other Unite bargaining groups in our UK business, is fair and ensures that our employees will continue to receive market-leading pay and reward, while balancing our need to be competitive and affordable for our customers.
“The 416 employees choosing to take action make up less than 3.5% of the workforce across our Warton and Samlesbury sites, and this population have received a 25% rise in pay since 2019.
“We are really disappointed that this small group and Unite are attempting to disrupt the critical work we do for customers; we are determined to continue to deliver despite those efforts.”
But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said workers had rejected the below inflation offer as it represented a “real-terms pay cut”.
“BAE Systems is one of the world’s biggest defence manufacturers and made billions in profit last year,” she said.
She added: “This is completely unacceptable and Unite will be backing our members in their dispute until BAE Systems comes to its senses.”
Unite said the November strike will “cripple production and bring both sites to a standstill.”
The union’s regional officer Ross Quinn added: “Staff have shown the level of their anger by voting overwhelmingly for strike action and will now bring BAE’s operations at two major factories to a standstill.
“The current pay offer is utterly unacceptable, and BAE needs to come back to the table with an improved offer that our members can accept if they don’t want to see workers on strike next month.”