Relief as wildcat strike over power station toilets turns out to be flash in the pan

A protest taking place outside Ferrybridge Power Station over the new site being built by the main plant. Picture: Ross Parry Agency

Around 300 engineering construction workers stopped work on the site in Ferrybridge yesterday in a protest about unhygienic toilets.

The workers claimed there were just eight toilets for around 650 staff and that they had to bring their own toilet paper at the weekend.

Union representatives and stewards met with management at the site this morning and promised workers they would be provided with extra facilities if they agreed to return to work tomorrow.

Geoff Hunt, senior steward for site contractor Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), spoke to workers outside the plant after the two-hour meeting and told them the company had agreed to open another two blocks of toilets and provide them with full-time cleaners.

He said there would be no loss of pay for the two days on strike.

Tony Duckitt, also a senior steward, told workers: “As stewards, all of us feel it’s a fair deal. They’ve pulled their socks up, it’s going to be spick and span. There’s people working on these toilets all day and more coming on site as well. They’ve got their act together.”

The stewards comments were met with cheers and applause from the striking workers who unanimously agreed to return to work in the morning.

A 65 MW multi-fuel plant is under construction at the site for energy giant SSE and is expected to be operational by 2015.