SAFETY fears have been raised over the nuclear base on the Clyde over plans to slash firefighter numbers.

The union Unite has raised what it called a "recipe for disaster" over a bid to cut eight posts from the fire safety crew at HM Naval Base Clyde – a reduction in strength of 15 per cent.

And now it has emerged another round of industrial action for the base could be on the cards.

Outsourcing services firm Capita, which won the contract for fire response services at the base from the Ministry of Defence last year, said the cuts would improve safety.

Unite has accused Capita of failing consult on the detail of the new fire services model at the Faslane and Coulport bases as well as the "integrated management risk plan".

The union said it understood that Capita was set to seek local authority support from nearby fire stations to “backfill” the specialist safety response, which the union said was a “recipe for disaster” which could comprise safety at the sites.

Workers at the base are already set to strike after what a union said was "overwhelming" support for action in a pay and conditions dispute after a ballot of its 1000-strong membership.

Unite members voted by 95% in support of strike action on an aggregated 65% turnout across the three different entities at the bases - Babcock Industrial, Babcock Non-Industrial and ISS Facility Services.

The strike action will also be held in conjunction with a continuous call out and overtime ban. The rolling industrial action is set to begin every day from March 12 at 10am.

Her Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde is the navy's headquarters in Scotland and is best known as the home of Britain's nuclear weapons, in the form of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles.

Debbie Hutchings, Unite industrial officer, said of the new dispute: “Unite has major concerns over the imposed plan by Capita to reduce the fire crew at the Coulport and Faslane nuclear naval bases by eight positions. The plans to reduce the fire crew and to replace it with local authority support is a recipe for disaster.

READ MORE: Clyde nuclear base workers to strike as row emerges over its future

“The decision by Capita appears to have been brought forward purely on a cost basis and the unrealistic expectation that the local authority can backfill these cuts, which is just not possible because specialist training is required at the nuclear naval bases. We believe these plans are worse than short-sighted and in fact potentially dangerous, which is why we are asking Capita to abandon this reckless plan and get back to negotiations.”

The latest disputes come amidst growing concern about what the union say is a lack of discussion over the future shape of the base.

The Herald:

Two weeks ago after it said it was taking legal advice over a 'ban' on political activity.

Unite union leaders have been angry over what they call an instruction by Babcock Marine made to its workforce that they should not be involved in any process which could be described as political ‘lobbying’.

The concerns are that it may 'distort' the Ministry of Defence's new Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP), which could be worth up to £200m to the bases.

Babcock, which owns the Coulport and Faslane naval bases on the Clyde, has been told by Unite that the "blanket ban prevents ultimate engagement" with the parliamentary process at the Scottish Parliament and Westminster to discuss non-commercially sensitive material.

Babcock said that the ban related to employees engaging with politicians over "non-commercially sensitive information".

The FMSP provides services such as maintenance of ships and submarines, as well as providing supplies, crew accommodation and cleaning services to naval bases.

Currently the work is dominated by BAE Systems and Babcock, but the MoD is dividing the work up into smaller lots in a bid to save money.

Unions have written to Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, claiming that splitting work into smaller work packages to create more competition endangers the country’s military power, including the Navy’s Trident submarine nuclear deterrent based on the Clyde.

A Capita spokesperson said: “We have conducted a thorough review of fire risks at Faslane and Coulport, which considered many factors before we put forward recommendations, including investment in new technology we are making that will reduce fire risk and improve safety.

“The report’s recommendation to adjust resourcing levels was ultimately approved by [the] Ministry of Defence. This followed four successful confirmatory exercises by our on-site fire station crews. We are committed to the delivery of better fire risk outcomes for the Ministry of Defence, its personnel, and our firefighters.”

Unions have raised repeated concerns over the looming outcome of the FMSP.

The FMSP competition process was expected to conclude in April 2021. And the work is expected to run till March 2026.

It is estimated that the work from the FMSP could be worth between £175-£200m. The figure is based on the Ministry of Defence stating that the FMSP scheme is projected to deliver up to a 30 per cent saving from the previous framework, which had a five-year operating figure of £250m on the Clyde.

Unite has already put politicians on alert including writing to Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, over the looming contract decision warning that splitting national security contracts into smaller work packages endangers the country’s military power and nuclear response capabilities.