Coal power is over in the UK but what happened to the workforce? The answer may surprise you because it seems jobs have been re-allocated elsewhere – and Labour should take note.

This Site was going to acknowledge the passing of coal power after 142 years with a small nod, but then I found a reference to it in the Resolution Foundation’s weekly newsletter, pointing to a TUC article on how the workforce was re-deployed.

It states:

Since 2015, union representatives at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station were aware of the inevitable fate of their plant, and the need for a proper transition plan to support the 154 strong workforce through the site’s closure.

In 2020, representatives from the recognised unions (GMB, Prospect & Unite the Union) set about planning and negotiating for a solid transition plan for the entire workforce. By this point, the three unions had prior experience of negotiating and ensuring a smooth transition for the workers at EDF’s Cottam coal power plant, followed by West Burton A.

The three unions brought similar proposals to [owner] Uniper. Uniper Executives were receptive and engaged collaboratively with unions, recognising that what benefited the worker also benefited the company.

There was a coordinated process to identify new jobs for workers to move across into, backed up by funding and support for workers to reskill, retrain and find new high-quality jobs, whilst also ensuring the plant was able to continuously produce electricity.

Some achievements of the transition plan included:

• Internal transfer opportunities to new, high-quality jobs within Uniper. For example, in the onsite Technology Centre, Connah’s Quay Power Station and Cottam Development Centre power plant.
• External job opportunities due to relationships which Uniper developed with businesses within the sector, such as Enfinium’s Skelton Grange plant.
• A ‘Peoples Hub’ was created to effectively work as an on-site job centre. This hosted job fairs that included participation from local employers such as Drax, as well as other Uniper-owned sites.
• Flexible release was granted, allowing all workers to leave for new employment prior to their agreed redundancy date, while still being entitled to their full redundancy package.
• Workers were able to attend external training courses which were fully funded by Uniper. They were also released from their normal working schedule to attend these courses.
• An enhanced voluntary redundancy package.

So: why not replicate the lessons learned here in other areas – like the loss of steel plants in Port Talbot and (it’s threatened) Scunthorpe, and the planned loss of oil and gas production in the North Sea, that threatens 30,000 workers’ livelihoods across the supply chain?

The answer seems to be that phasing out coal power had been long-planned, whereas the shift away from coal-based steel-making has been chaotic and the oil and gas decision came out of the blue.

When This Site reported on the plan to ban licences for new oil and gas production in the UK, I quoted a BBC article that said,

Proposing the motion, Unite and the GMB – the country’s second and third biggest unions – said while climate change did pose a risk, fossil fuels should not be abandoned until workers knew how their jobs would be protected.

It seems clear that those union representatives knew what they were talking about, because of their experiences with coal. They advocate

• The importance of Unions being at the heart of any transition planning
• Coordinated pathways into new jobs, including with external employers
• A long-term plan
• A commitment to invest in skills training and paid time off
• Strong redundancy packages

And they say,

Future-proofing existing operations can cut carbon emissions and protect jobs for the long-run.

Pre-emptive action and organising to future-proof is needed to prevent a failed transition for [workers in other industries].

Does Keir Starmer know? Does he even care? He seems to think being prime minister is about lining his own pockets with lots of freebies from his pet donors.

Perhaps I’ll write and ask him. I wonder what he would say?

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