According to the Unite trade union, which is grouping the 180 demonstrators, recent increases in energy costs have boosted the company’s profit by around 225 million euros in the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to 58 million euros in the same period last year.
The organization’s leaders also said the 8 percent increase is below the rate of inflation, which ranges from 10 percent to 13 percent, and reiterated their focus on their members’ jobs, salaries and conditions and workers’ support.
Secretary-General Sharon Graham called Drax’s stance on meeting up to 6 percent of the European nation’s energy needs “a classic case of greed” for a company making “dazzling profits”.
Unite members are planning to extend the protests to March and April if there is no agreement favorable to them, while two other unions at the power station, GMB and Prospect, have refused to take part in the strikes.
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