{"id":4228,"date":"2015-05-20T20:25:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T19:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4228"},"modified":"2015-05-20T20:25:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T19:25:13","slug":"hammer-blow-for-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4228","title":{"rendered":"Hammer blow for workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The proposed closure of the coal-fired power station at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a hammer blow for the workforce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite said today (Wednesday 20 May).<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Unite said that that there were 172 employees at the site, as well as 200 contract workers.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Unite national officer Kevin Coyne said that the union is now seeking to enter into talks with the company about the need for the plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closure.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn the meantime,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwe will seek that any redundancies will be voluntary and that the maximum effort is made in order to seek alternative suitable employment in other parts of the business.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement is a hammer blow for the workers and their families,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Coyne added.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe closure of the power station next March again reinforces the message to ministers that they should speed up the development of alternative technologies, such as carbon capture and storage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Coyne noted that the issues surrounding the loss-making Ferrybridge are complex.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is 48 years-old; there was a serious fire there last year and government policy sees a limited role for coal in the future,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFerrybridge also lost out in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the capacity market auction\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 which allocates contracts to supply electricity to the National Grid under a government scheme which pays for certain plants to remain online until 2018-2019.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Coyne saw the potential closure of Ferrybridge as a direct consequence of the failures of government policy.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has repeatedly warned that if the government does not have a coherent\u00c2\u00a0 and sustainable energy strategy to meet the future needs of industry, commerce and the consumer, Britain will be in a dark place, literally.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The proposed closure of the coal-fired power station at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a hammer blow for the workforce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite said today (Wednesday 20 May). Unite said that that there were 172 employees at the site, as well as 200 contract workers. Unite national officer Kevin Coyne said that the union is now seeking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[54,301],"wps_subtitle":"Ferrybridge power station set to close","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4230,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions\/4230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}