Civilian staff at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases have voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over worker rights.
Members of the Unite union who work in roles involving radiation monitoring, weapons support, cleaning, logistics, maintenance and repairs are to take action over a "systematic campaign to undermine workers".
The union said employer Babcock Marine is considering the outsourcing of services to private companies.
Unite leaders said the company has withdrawn facilities for shop steward meetings and is "failing to meaningfully consult and negotiate with the trade union".
Members of the union voted 96% in favour of strike action and 99% in favour of industrial action short of a strike.
It will now consult members over the timing and form of any industrial action.
Unite regional officer Stephen Deans said: "Workers need to have their rights respected - otherwise the balance of power is tipped too far in favour of employers, who too often put profits before people.
"Babcock Marine has engineered a complete breakdown of normal relations between workers and management at Faslane and Coulport.
"Our members believe the company is deliberately trying to undermine their rights, so jobs and service quality can be cut through more outsourcing. It's all about money.
"Workers deserve fairness - and that means decent pay, decent conditions and the right to be properly consulted and represented when decisions are made.
"Babcock Marine has a choice to make. Does it want to be seen as a reasonable employer that respects the rights of workers and sees them as partners for success? Or does it want to continue with an attitude better-suited to a Victorian mill-owner?"
A statement from Babcock said: "We regularly engage with our trade unions on a number of topics and view any concerns that are brought to our attention as a matter of importance.
"We are disappointed with this ballot result, as earlier this week we met with Unite and ACAS where we had constructive discussions and are due to meet again at the end of this month."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel