Prospect
Background
Launched on November 1 2001, the Prospect trades union has more than 100,000 members. It combined the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists (IPMS) with the Engineers’ and Managers’ Association (EMA). It now has about 28,000 members working in electricity supply, nuclear power, R&D and related environmental and safety bodies.
The pro-nuclear Tony Cooper was its first joint general secretary. [1]
A pro-nuclear union
Prospect has consistently called for a return to nuclear power. In February 2002, for example, it called on the government to “make a positive commitment to keep the UK nuclear energy option open�. [2]
At the TUC’s energy and environment debate at its 2004 annual Congress in Brighton, Prospect’s Peter Clements backed new nuclear power. “Nuclear power should have a significant part to play in reducing CO2 emissions,� he said. The aim must be to have a “balanced mix� of energies, including new coal and nuclear power plants. “We can’t wait for any interruptions of supply before we act. We must act now." [3]
In November 2004, Prospect organized a ‘Keeping the Nuclear Option Open’ conference at which pro-nuclear scientist James Lovelock spoke. Green energy policy “harms the whole world and intensifies the crisis of global warming,� Lovelock said. “Now that we have made the Earth sick, it will not be cured by alternative green remedies, like wind turbines and bio-fuels alone. This is why I recommend instead the appropriate medicine of nuclear energy as part of a sensible portfolio of energy sources.� [4]
The union has branches for AEA Technology and UKAEA. [5]
It is allied to NUKlear 21, which states that it has members in Prospect.
Who runs Prospect?
Prospect’s website provides a list of senior officers: [6]
- President: Alan Grey
- Vice-president: Graeme Henderson
- Deputy vice-president: Robbie Ridoutt
- General secretary: Paul Noon
- Assistant general secretaries: Mike Clancy, Dai Hudd
- Director of resources: David Pelly
External links
- ^ ‘In prospect – a better life at work, Prospect press release, November 1, 2001.
- ^ ‘Prospect backs calls to support UK nuclear energy’, Prospect press release, February 7, 2002.
- ^ ‘TUC wants new nuclear power’, Nuclear 21 website, undated, accessed February 2006.
- ^ ‘Go nuclear now, urges inventor of Gaia theory’, Prospect press release, November 5, 2004.
- ^ ‘Prospect branches’, undated, accessed February 2006.
- ^ ‘Our people,, undated, accessed February 2006.
