EDF workers to stage 24-hour strike over pay
For those of you who have been following the above story on energy news roundup, to summarise, employees of EDF are unhappy with their terms and conditions, with some facing a £6,000 a year drop in income, while others face losing their job. This has been on-going and is predominantly about the smart meter installation programme.
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Unite said almost 500 f its members, including meter readers, based in London, southern and western England, will walk out on September 2 following the breakdown of talks. Unite official Onay Kasab said “We entered talks hopeful that we could avoid industrial action and are deeply disappointed by the company’s refusal to give concrete assurances on protecting current pay, conditions and hours”.
For further information regarding this dispute follow the link EDF workers to stage 24-hour strike over pay. Where EDF discuss why the changes are needed!
E.ON encouraging students to take up STEM subjects.
Students in Hampshire are being urged to enter a competition and inspire young people to take up science, technology, engineering and maths. STEM for short.
German Energy Company E.ON is encouraging pupils aged between 11 and 16 from across Southampton to write, produce, record and submit a minute-long radio commercial covering the four subjects in a way that would encourage interest in STEM, according to the Daily Echo.
E.ON has teamed up with ucreate to run the competition and provide youngsters with a work-related introduction to the tools of the media. Ucreate gives school/college a unique opportunity to write and produce content using actual real world briefs and career advice from major brands, according to their website. Wonderful opportunity for young people to flex their creative muscle.
SSE backs music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins Scotland with new partnership
Altruism seems to be the order of the day for the big energy companies. SSE will actively support the growth of Nordoff Robbins Scotland services through a combination of direct investment and a series of staff fundraising initiatives, according to THEDRUM.
This support will enable more children and adults to access music therapy. Music therapy is an established clinical discipline which is widely used to help people whose lives have been affected by injury, illness or disability, (taken from The British Association for Music therapy).
Donald MacLeod, chairman of Nordoff Robbins Scotland, said: “With the support of SSE we can continue to grow the charity ad provide music therapy, which is so vital, to more a more children and adults across Scotland”. He further states that: “We always push ourselves so we can continue expanding our facilities across Scotland and every year it costs over £500,000 to provide music therapy to over 400 children and adults. This partnership is an ideal way to encourage donations from Scotland and beyond”.
SSE also sponsor the next generation of athletes from GB and Ireland though the SSE Next Generation athlete programme. They also sponsor The SSE Women’s FA. The SSE Hydro in Glasgow and The SSE Arena, Wembley.
SSE plans to move out of its Hampshire office in favour of a new building in Reading. SSE said that it will move out of Basingstoke with all 600 staff with the majority moving to the new premises. The idea behind the move is to create a central hub from where the business will grow in an economically vital part of the UK. According to the article in the southern Daily Echo, there will be no redundancies.
That’s all from this week’s energy news roundup folks, see you next week.