NUCLEAR power station workers across England and Scotland celebrated today after their unions won a ground-breaking deal from EDF bosses.

Engineering construction roles in Hartlepool, Torness, Heysham, Dungeness, Hunterston, Hinkley Point B and Sizewell B will now be covered by a national agreement for the industry, guaranteeing better pay and conditions, Unite and GMB said.

The French-owned firm, whose workers have taken months of industrial action over what Unite said was management’s failure to address the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, has also agreed to boost bonus payments, the unions added. 

Staff will now pocket an extra 80p an hour, backdated to January, which Unite and GMB said is worth about £500 each. 

The deal means that strikes planned to start today at EDF sites in Hartlepool and Torness will now not go ahead.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham hailed the “significant agreement, which delivers a decent increase to our members and shows what can be achieved by workers standing together in unity.

“This deal is further evidence that Unite’s complete focus on jobs, pay and conditions is paying dividends for its members regardless of the sector they operate in.”

GMB national officer Charlotte Brumpton-Childs said: “This deal is groundbreaking, giving our engineering contraction workforce on the EDF fleet a voice, some for the very first time. 

“GMB is proud to have achieved a deal that will put money in people’s pockets, give them better protection at work and give them a collective voice moving forward.

“It is challenging work that our members do — it’s time they were rewarded appropriately for it.”