Pay deal agreed for Hinkley project workers

Workers on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project will be guaranteed pay of £13 an hour after developer EDF, contractors Bouygues and Laing O’Rourke and unions struck a pay deal today.

Under the Civil Engineering Sector Agreement staff on the project, expected to number up to 5,000 at the peak of construction, may also benefit from a bonus scheme, productivity scheme and milestone payments, making it potentially the best paid construction site to work on in the country.

Bouygues and Laing O’Rourke won the competition to deliver the £2bn civils package at the Hinkley Point plant in June 2012.

A separate agreement among the parties, called the Common Framework Agreement, has also established how industrial relations on the project will be managed and mandates that people will only be employed on a pay as you earn basis to put a halt to the use of casual labour.

The agreement also set a target to train 500 apprentices and trainees during the course of the project.

Steve Murphy, general secretary of construction union UCATT, said the agreement would be a “blueprint for all future major construction projects”.

He added: “This groundbreaking agreement will ensure that workers building Hinkley Point will receive excellent rates of pay and first class conditions.”

Nigel Cann, EDF’s Hinkley Point C construction director, hailed the agreements as a “significant achievement”.

He added: “These are important agreements for the project and having them in place now is a significant achievement. This reflects the strength of relationships between the parties involved and their commitment to make the Hinkley Point C project a success. The agreements will help set high standards for health, safety, skills and delivery.”