Clyde naval bases dispute talks break down

The Faslane base is home to the UK's fleet of Trident nuclear submarines

Talks intended to resolve an industrial dispute at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases have broken down.

Civilian workers represented by the Unite union have been taking part in an overtime ban and a series of staggered strikes.

The union has accused employer Babcock Marine of a "systematic campaign to undermine workers".

The company has rejected the claim and said previously it was "disappointed and perplexed by Unite's actions".

Talks have been held at the conciliation service Acas over two days but the union said they ended without resolution.

Faslane is home to Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

Unite regional officer Stephen Deans said: "Unite put forward a range of proposals that we believed would address our members' concerns and resolve this dispute.

"Unfortunately, Babcock Marine has chosen to disregard most of these and instead provided a set of counter-proposals which fail to address our concerns in any meaningful way."

He added: "No-one wants this dispute to drag on but we will not be daunted by the company's intransigence towards our members' concerns."

Unite members are staging a series of "staggered" strikes

Babcock Marine has previously said it had offered "reasonable solutions" to all of the issues raised by Unite.

A spokesman added: "We absolutely refute the allegations that we are attempting to undermine our relationship with the trade union and wider workforce or that we are engaged in a wide-ranging plan to outsource services.

"Our workforce at HMNB Clyde do a magnificent job in support of the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy and it is disappointing that most will get no direct benefit from the issues raised with us.

"We are working closely with our customer and the 1,100 Babcock employees who are not involved in this industrial action to minimise any impact to the smooth running of HMNB Clyde."