This is a historic moment. It is also a story about unions and an employer working together to ensure no worker is left behind.
GMB, Prospect and Unite worked closely with Uniper to plan and manage the impact of the site closure on the 154 workers on site. A GMB lead rep described how this meant that a “stressful process and time in people’s lives is transitioned smoothly, achieving a positive outcome whenever possible.”
This is in stark contrast to the simultaneous and devastating end to coal use in the Port Talbot steelworks.
A history built on coal
In January 1882, the world’s first coal fired power station began producing electricity. Powering just 968 streetlamps in the City of London, Holborn Viaduct Power Station marked the beginning of a 142-year history of coal fired power stations across the world. A history which this month is coming to an end in the UK.
Coal helped make Britain rich and powerful. Ratcliffe-on-Soar Coal Power Station has supplied Great Britain with power for the past 57 years – keeping Britain’s lights on for more than half a decade. Nine miles from Nottingham, Ratcliffe was commissioned by the publicly-owned Central Electricity Generating Board in 1968, The 2 GW power plant burnt over 5 million tonnes of coal per year – most of the output of South Nottinghamshire’s coal mines until these were shut down.
But by 2009, it was clear that burning coal was driving dangerous climate change. Ed Miliband – in his first iteration as Energy Secretary - announced that “The era of new unabated coal has come to an end”. And in 2015, the UK government announced that all coal power stations would close by 2025 (subsequently brought forward to 2024).
A seat at the table to plan the closure
Since 2015, union reps 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 Uniper. Uniper Executives were receptive and engaged collaboratively with unions, recognising that what benefited the worker also benefited the company.
Chris Howe, GMB Workplace Representative at Ratcliffe, described how trade unions having a seat at the table in putting together a plan for site closure “played a huge role in ensuring that what can be a stressful process and time in people’s lives is transitioned smoothly, achieving a positive outcome whenever possible.”
He explained that “early engagement, cooperation, and collaboration” was "crucial in minimising the impact of the site closure on employees.”
Prospect’s Negotiation Officer Mike Macdonald also explained that "Being on the [European] Works Council really helped us as German trade unions held our corner and helped us to keep the ground we gained."
The outcome: supported pathways for the Ratcliffe workforce
While the closure of the plant inevitably led to job losses, the story does not end with a bitter taste in the mouths of workers at Ratcliffe Power Station. The recognised unions and the Uniper Executive team put a successful plan in place. This meant 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:
Efforts have been made to make the site as viable as possible for redevelopment, including streamlining to any potential planning permission applications, through implementation of a Local Development Order. Unfortunately, there are currently no immediate plans for redevelopment of the site
While the closure of the power station brings great sadness to many, the atmosphere within the workforce is also remarkably positive. The well-managed transition, by both Uniper and the recognised unions, has resulted in a feeling of relief.
Prospect rep Tom Sidwell said that "[Ratcliffe's] value for workers and the local subconscious is massive. It's a really important part of the local community's hearts and minds […] I know I'm nearly home when I can see the cooling towers".
Can we replicate the just transition at Ratcliffe everywhere else?
The positive experience at Ratcliffe is in stark contrast to the abrupt shutdown of the steel blast furnaces at Port Talbot with thousands of job losses - now also threatened at Scunthorpe. Why are these experiences so different?
While the UK is ending coal power with an orderly transition, the shift away from coal-based steel making is intensely chaotic. Early planning is essential if an effective transition plan is to be put in place. This was aided by an early policy announcement and a long lead-in time to a closure date. This was effectively an “industrial policy of closure” – a state-driven timetable to shrink and phasing out the coal power industry. Unfortunately, this wasn’t accompanied by a state-driven industrial strategy of growing new industries.
But it did give a long lead-in time, and the workers at Ratcliffe Power Station seized the opportunity to plan. It enabled GMB, Prospect and Unite the Union to collaborate to help deliver a transition plan that supported workers through the most difficult situation – mass redundancies.
Positive take-aways to replicate are:
For most high-carbon manufacturing sites, like chemical plants, ceramics kilns, or cement factories, the best path is one that protects jobs, while decarbonising processes to new, clean technologies. Future-proofing existing operations can cut carbon emissions and protect jobs for the long-run. Decarbonisation wasn’t possible with coal power but is possible across many energy-intensive manufacturing sectors – including steel.
Union Representatives can push companies across the UK to adapt to net zero targets by repurposing or modifying processes within their business. However, other industries may not benefit from the long lead-in time that coal power had. Pre-emptive action and organising to future-proof is needed to prevent a failed transition for their workers.
Turning point
Industry in the UK is at a turning point. We need a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown. In most sectors, this needn’t result in site closures.
While the experience at Ratcliffe gives hope that a worker-friendly transition is possible, the reality is that this was easier to achieve at a power plant with less than 200 workers, than in a steel plant employing thousands that dominates the local economy, let alone sector-wide transitions like North Sea oil & gas.
That’s why the UK urgently needs a new, bold industrial strategy.
Our climate and environmental policies need to go beyond an industrial strategy of closure; and be supplemented with industrial strategies and public investment that both future-proof and drive growth of new industries. Trade unions need to be at the heart of planning and coordinating industrial change, adaptation and growth – not only negotiating and managing closure. That means giving trade unions a significant role in the councils and bodies developing the new industrial strategies – from the focused Offshore Wind Industry Council to the high-level Industrial Strategy Council.
Delivering a fair climate transition for workers will be an uphill battle. But Ratcliffe can give us hope. For many, Ratcliffe-on-Soar was more than just a power plant. It was a local landmark, a symbol of home. Union reps at Ratcliffe will go home on their last day of work happy that they have genuinely achieved a fair transition that leaves no worker behind.
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