Third strike by shipyard workers

Unions say there is solid support for the strike

A third strike is taking place at a north Devon shipyard in a row over pay.

Workers at Appledore Shipyard are staging the protest in a bid to get the same pay rate from Babcock Marine as employees at the firm's other sites.

They began their first one-day strike last Friday and have three more days of industrial action planned.

A spokeswoman for Babcock Marine, which has just announced up to 300 job cuts at its Devonport site, said the company would not comment on the strike.

The Appledore yard is earmarked to help build hull sections for two of the UK's next generation of aircraft carriers.

The vessels, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy, nearly three times the size of the current Invincible-class carriers.

They are expected to be completed between 2014 and 2016.

Babcock, which is part of the UK Aircraft Carrier Alliance, secured the deal for the carriers in July 2007.

The Appledore work came out of Babcock's takeover of the Devonport yard in Plymouth in June 2007 from previous owner DML.

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