{"id":29861,"date":"2021-09-08T17:57:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29861"},"modified":"2021-09-09T13:28:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T12:28:44","slug":"key-to-uks-clean-fuel-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29861","title":{"rendered":"Key to UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clean fuel future"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Ahead of MPs debating the future of Westinghouse Springfields in Preston, Lancashire, yesterday (September 7), in Westminster Hall, representatives of Unite held a small rally on College Green outside Parliament.<\/p>\n

Reps met MPs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s energy spokesperson, Ed Miliband \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and told them first-hand about the importance of the facility to jobs in the Preston area, as well as to maintaining skills and to reaching the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s net zero ambitions.<\/p>\n

Springfields is the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only facility suitable for making fuel for nuclear power generation. Unite and Prospect have warned that a series of redundancies at the plant risks leaving the facility with a critical shortage of skills.<\/p>\n

UNITElive caught up with some of the Unite members who had travelled down from Preston early that morning to add their voices to the protest. They gathered on College Green with a banner saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098UK fuel for UK reactors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unite convenor Damien Houlihan<\/strong> said the MPs debate Springfields\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 future, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bneed to understand the importance of keeping Springfields, both for Preston and the UK. These are highly skilled and well paid jobs,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he continued.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo get anything similar I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d probably have to move from Preston, uprooting my entire family. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really very concerning for all our members.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to give us a firm commitment to UK reactors will be using UK fuel. This commitment is essential if the UK is to be meet its climate change target in 2050.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Unite regional officer, Graham Williams<\/strong> added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are not only 800 highly skilled jobs at risk at Springfields, but around 5,000 in the local supply chain. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crucial that the company comes back into government ownership. Nationalisation is the best way forward.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Addressing the members was Unite director of education, Jim Mowatt, speaking in lieu of Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail.<\/p>\n

Mowatt said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday nuclear energy is recognised as an indispensable ingredient of the fuel mix to achieve our climate emergency targets. Today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Parliamentary debate reinforces that reality. Springfields is the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only suitable facility for making fuel for nuclear power generators.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Big issue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a big issue \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not just about jobs and skills \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but about the security of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s electricity supply. The imminent closure of Hunterston power station and Dungerness B, all have big ramifications for the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nuclear fuel supply.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

He continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday in Parliament, next week at the TUC, we have to form a strategy to bridge the gap between our aspirations and achievements and the current fleet of nuclear reactors closing, and the operation of our nuclear new build.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs Gail Cartmail, Unite assistant secretary has said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Nuclear energy is a key component of this country meeting the net zero target by 2050.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo this rally and the debate in Westminster Hall is about 800 jobs at Springfield and the thousands of other local jobs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of course it is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we are trade unions. But it is equally about our environment and our future \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and taking an intelligent, pragmatic approach which will benefit our members, but also the whole of the UK.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

WATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meet our Springfields members here<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Amanda Campbell, Film by Martin Scanlon, Photos by Mark Thomas <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of MPs debating the future of Westinghouse Springfields in Preston, Lancashire, yesterday (September 7), in Westminster Hall, representatives of Unite held a small rally on College Green outside Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[54,841,127],"wps_subtitle":"Springfields nuclear fuel facility must be nationalised, says Unite","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29861"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29875,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861\/revisions\/29875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}