By Aileen Robertson

BABCOCK BACKED down at the last minute to avoid a mass walkout over the pensions row at Rosyth dockyard.

Around 1000 workers were to down tools yesterday in protest at the dockyard owner’s imposition of changes to the pension scheme.

However the engineering group stepped in to renegotiate and workers were balloted on Wednesday. After the votes were counted, it was decided to call off a series of 24-hour strikes.

Trade unions have welcomed the company’s decision to meet the workers halfway but there has been anger at the way the row was handled by Babcock.

The dispute centred on benefits. Babcock imposed a quadrupling of pensions contributions along with a decrease in pensionable pay and the raising of the retirement age to 65.

Under the new agreement, contributions will still be increased to 6% of earnings but there will be no other losses.

As the row rumbled on, workers refused to put in any more than 37 hours a week for the past six weeks.

It meant Rosyth’s lucrative refitting projects, including a £6 million contract to work on HMS Gloucester, fell behind.

A source at the yard said, “They will have fallen behind a bit but this is the one workforce in Britain that can pull things back and get ships out in time.

“The workforce are happy that their pensions are safe but they are disappointed that they didn’t get to show the company how they really felt by walking out.”

Now that workers have accepted an increase in pensions contributions they are now hoping Babcock will offer them a better pay deal.

On August 22, union leaders will meet company representatives to discuss wages.

Raymond Duguid, chairman of industrial trade unions at Rosyth, said, “Now our contributions are reaching the industry average we now feel entitled to industry wages. Until now we have accepted a smaller hourly rate because we were putting less into our pensions.

“We’re not looking to be greedy, we just want parity. We don’t think we’re being unreasonable. We have the same skills as other yards.”

John Park, Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said Babcock had subjected its employees to a summer of uncertainty.