At the historic Harland & Wolff Group’s shipyard in Belfast, workers have voted in favour of carrying out industrial action.

The General, Municipal, & Boilermakers (GMB) union has said its members voted with a 98% majority after the shipbuilder, which has yards in Scotland and England, failed to make a pay offer for the year 2024/25.

As the Belfast Telegraph reports, staff members are due to meet with representatives of H&W on Tuesday afternoon about the future of the shipyard, which has two of the largest drydocks in Europe.

The GMB has said in recent months that there were internal disagreements within the government that were scaring the workforce after it was reported the shipyard in Queen’s Island could close – despite winning a £1.6 billion contract from the Ministry of Defence for ships to service the Royal Navy.

In May, it was reported that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was expected to block a £200 million taxpayer-backed financial support package that was designed to keep the shipyard in east Belfast afloat.

More on the development here.

Officers who took industrial action at a Manx ferry firm over new contracts has been halted, in which their seafarers’ trade union has confirmed.

The move follows confirmation by the operator, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company which sent letters putting staff who refused to agree to the new working terms on notice would be rescinded.

According to the union, Nautilus International, the letters issued on 22 December, have since been withdrawn and that its members had been informed to cease their industrial action.

As previously reported, the dispute at the Steam Packet centres the on live aboard requirements on the company’s new flagship ferry, Manxman. The 24,161 gross tonnes newbuild was introduced last August on the Douglas-Heysham route.

The dispute led to affected staff who have been refusing to act up to cover in for rosters of senior roles or work overtime since 27 December.

BBC News have further coverage on the Manx government owned operator.