Compulsory redundancies avoided at PNTL after robust negotiations

Unions working with Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) on its decommissioning plans for the UK-flagged nuclear fuel carrier Oceanic Pintail hope to avoid compulsory redundancies due to a good response to a voluntary redundancy scheme at the company.

The Oceanic Pintail will be decommissioned, resulting in the loss of 42 posts, 18 of which are officer roles covered by Nautilus, with 24 ratings represented by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union.

A section 188 letter on the roles and duties for consultation under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was issued to both unions on 21 January. They have since engaged with four joint collective consultation meetings, the last of which took place on 5 March in Kendal in Cumbria.

Nautilus national organiser Steve Doran said: 'It has been a robust negotiation however I am pleased to report that a positive approach has been adopted by all parties. Flexible crewing arrangements on the remaining three vessels and a voluntary redundancy scheme will ensure that, subject to no late changes at the time of writing, compulsory redundancies will be successfully avoided.'

A 2020 pay and conditions review meeting is due on 17 March 2020.

Nautilus International and delegations from the RMT had reiterated their total opposition to compulsory redundancies at the third collective consultation meeting in PNTL's home port of Barrow-in-Furness on 7 February 2020.

The process of decommissioning the 5,721gt, 103.9m 1987-built Oceanic Pintail was expected to begin on 10 February, with no job terminations expected to take effect until the end of March. A three-week window for consideration of voluntary redundancies (VR) was opened once all PNTL crew members had received their VR figures in advance.