THE HERALD has been contacted by several employees working on the maintenance outage at the Pembroke Power Station, who are keen to vent their frustrations over what many are calling an unfair Covid-19 payment.
The plant, which is owned and run by RWE, is reportedly making ‘one off’ payments to some employees, while excluding others.
The payment has been described as a ‘bonus to members of staff as a remuneration for working throughout the current Covid-19 pandemic’.
The sum, which is believed to be around an additional £200 per week, will be paid in full on completion of the outage.
However, many employees have been seemingly excluded from the bonus scheme.
All staff who work permanently at the power station and in the maintenance area are employed directly by RWE Generation.
RWE have confirmed they have permanent sub-contractors who work at the power plant, but they are not directly employed by them, but a wholly owned subsidiary called GMOS.
One employee in the GMOS area of the group, who wishes not to be named, told us that the payments are unjust in their distribution.
The Herald understands that certain trades such as cleaning, scaffolding and security are not eligible for the payment.
The source also expressed his dissatisfaction that it seems to be, in the main, contracted employees who are travelling from further afield who are eligible, with mostly local workers missing out on the extra cash.
The Herald contacted RWE to clarify what the scheme was and how they assess eligibility.
A spokesperson said: “RWE is a reputable and responsible employer and does not comment on individuals’ private employment conditions.
“We are engaged in minimal standard maintenance that helps ensure we can continue to provide critical energy supplies to the UK.
“We thank all our employees, contractors and local businesses within Pembrokeshire who are working extremely hard to support us through this difficult time.
“We also thank Pembrokeshire County Council and all other authorities for their continuing support.
When responding to a question as to why only certain employees of RWE were eligible and why sub-contracted companies are also not eligible for the scheme, they said in an email: “If they are contractors, this may be a question for their employers?”
The Herald have also contacted GMB union to see if this a situation they are aware of and if they are working with their members to clarify the situation.
We are awaiting a response.
