AWE members slam ‘incompetence’ of restructure and consultation process
Across three packed branch meetings, nearly 1,000 Prospect members at the Atomic Weapons Establishment gave collective voice to their growing dismay, anger and frustration with senior management and the ‘sheer incompetence’ of a major restructure and redundancy programme.
AWE branch meeting at the William Penney Theatre
Late last year, AWE told staff of the restructure with about 7,000 roles in scope for 400-500 redundancies, which has since increased to about 800.
However, perhaps the greater cause for distress has been the lack of proper staff engagement and consultation. Despite repeated requests, AWE has failed to provide Prospect with a lot of the information necessary to understand and challenge the restructure.
Indicative of the discontent, Prospect’s AWE branch has signed up more than 600 new members since October 2025, swelling its membership to nearly 3,400, and making it Prospect’s second largest branch.
The three meetings, spread out across a single day on Thursday, 8 January to give as many members a chance to attend as possible, were held at the nearly 300-capacity William Penney Theatre in Aldermaston, on AWE’s site and part of its recreational society.
In a show of support, all of the meetings were attended by Mike Clancy, Prospect General Secretary; Sue Ferns, Senior Deputy General Secretary; Bob King, National Secretary for Defence and all the full-time Defence officials; staff from Prospect’s National Organising Union; and the Communications team.
- Since the meetings were held, the branch has announced that they are balloting on industrial action over the botched restructure.
- Members are also being encouraged to share their first-hand experiences at AWE with their local MPs.
- What you told us: AWE members share their anger and dismay
Branch chair
Addressing the first of the meetings at the William Penney Theatre, Helen Carp, AWE branch chair told the branch:
Helen Carp
“I wish I was standing here today with armed with information. I might be able to print packs and say, ‘Look, they did it. They got it to you.’ But I don’t have the information that we’ve asked for. We’ve asked very, very loudly.
“This is so unusual for a large employer, who should know what they’re doing and should know how to treat people with respect, and they are just not. It’s not just on one thing either. This isn’t just the redundancy programme and the lack of respect for our recognition agreements.
“There are more things too, such as suspending members for months on end without an investigation; or suspending members with no due cause; or removing people from posts; moving them sideways without any process being followed.”
Helen also told members about the repeated false promises from senior AWE management that the information on the restructure would be forthcoming: “We’re going to do it. It’s all right. Carry on. It’s all right, Helen. Next week. Next week…”
She added:
“They have to provide us with enough information to make meaningful consultation in this redundancy programme. If anyone leaves this business because they didn’t want to, it has to be legitimate and reasonable. And we have to leave behind an AWE that is fit for the future. Right now, I couldn’t tell you what their plan is, let alone if it’s any good.”
Prospect General Secretary
After Helen spoke, Mike Clancy, Prospect’s General Secretary also addressed the branch. He told them:
“Unions come in different shapes and sizes. Some unions shout all the time and when someone’s always shouting at you, they just become wallpaper. You don’t listen because they’re always shouting.
Mike Clancy
“I always have a philosophy that with Prospect, given who you are, as professional experts, knowledgeable leaders and managers: you care about your work, you want the organisation to succeed and there’s a crucial national mission that you’re responsible for.
“When Prospect says to an employer, ‘This is not the right route to go.’ We should be listened to because we don’t say no all the time.
“The last few weeks with AWE have been quite extraordinary and I’ve got a few decades of doing a full-time officer job and quite a while being your General Secretary. We deal with a lot of sophisticated employers, working with major infrastructure often in very risky environments.
“I have never seen such incompetence that I’ve witnessed from your senior leadership, and I don’t say that lightly. I don’t criticise senior leaderships easily. I have never seen such incompetence that I am witnessing; and that your representatives and my staff are having to deal with.
“We’re not against change. We know change happens all the time, but it’s how you do it. AWE are way below the standards that would be expected.”
Mike also pledged to the branch that Prospect would be reaching out through political channels, from the Secretary of State down, to put further pressure on AWE.
Bob King
National Secretary for Defence
Following Mike’s address, Bob King, Prospect National Secretary for Defence, talked the branch through some of the logistics and timeline of the ballot for industrial action.
He compared how AWE have conducted their restructure process with other defence employers, where there were ‘two-year consultations and we had trade union representatives embedded full-time on the consultation committee.’
“The best consultation we had was with Lockheed Martin and we don’t even have recognition with them!”
Bob continued on the situation at AWE:
“We’re a little bit fed up with it, and this has got to the point of ridiculousness. We don’t even have an industrial relations framework. The last one is from 2002. We’ve been trying to renegotiate one, but we don’t have one now because AWE refuse to engage properly with us. There are no regular meetings. I don’t have this with any other company.”
To close, Bob said:
“There’s been a lot said in the news about defence workers and there’s been a lot said within the trade union movement. But at Prospect we’re fiercely proud of the fact that we represent you, and defence workers across the sector.”
