WORKERS at Drax power station in Yorkshire are to ballot on strike action against compulsory redundancies, their union said yesterday.

Unite said that Drax Group Ltd has reneged on a pledge not to enforce redundancies as the station ceases coal-burning energy production.

Drax, near Selby, was Europe’s biggest coal-fired power station, and the power sector’s biggest single contributor to environmental pollution.

Four of its six generators have switched to burning biomass fuels — wood pellets.

The remaining generators will switch to gas-fired power this year, with 230 job losses.

Unite said the company pledged there would be no compulsory redundancies in a pay agreement last year.

The union’s regional officer Shane Sweeting said: “Our members even offered to take a pay and bonus freeze to improve redundancy terms and maintain jobs, but that has been rejected by the bosses. 

“So we are now preparing for the strike ballot which will be held in July.”

But Drax denied that a pledge over compulsory redundancies had been made. 

The company said: “A joint statement agreed with Unite in February when we announced we would be stopping using coal in March 2021 bears testament to this.”