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• Construction workers to stage national day of protest to defend pay and sector skills on 9 November
• Vote for strike action at Prince William’s homeless charity, Centrepoint
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Construction workers to stage national day of protest to defend pay and sector skills on 9 November

2 November 2011

Thousands of construction workers are expected to take unpaid leave and travel to London to demonstrate over an unprecedented attack on the skills and pay of skilled workers as Unite prepares for a strike ballot at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services.

Unite, the UK’s largest union, is providing coaches from all over the country to bring electricians, plumbers and heating and ventilation engineers to the capital for a national day of protest to defend the skills and pay of thousands of skilled construction workers.

WHEN: Wednesday 9 November 2011, 11:30am
WHERE: The Shard (London Bridge) rally at Blackfriars station building site 1pm-1.30pm followed by a march down the Embankment to the House of Commons for a lobby of parliament.

The day of protest and lobby of parliament is over an attack by Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, along with six other leading construction companies, to withdraw from five long-standing agreements and impose new semi-skilled grades with massive cuts in pay.

Unite is balloting Balfour Beatty Engineering Services first as it believes the firm is acting as the `ring-leader' of the break-away employers with five firms out of the seven threatening to sack workers who refuse to sign the new and inferior contracts by 7 December.

Unite national officer Bernard McAulay said: “Unite is calling on employers to stop bullying their workers and withdraw their intention to dismiss workers who do not sign away their livelihoods. These employers need to pull back from the brink and get back around the negotiating table to bring stability back to the construction industry.”

The national day of protest follows months of demonstrations by thousands of rank and file construction workers outside sites up and down the country, including at Sellafield, Grangemouth and Ratcliffe power stations, Blackfriars and Kings Cross stations and Lindsey oil refinery.

The timescale for the ballot with Balfour Beatty has yet to be confirmed and the locations of any strikes will be decided in due course.

ENDS

Notes to news editors:

For further information please contact Unite communications officer Liane Groves on 07793 661657 or Unite national officer Bernard McAulay 07958 514837.

The seven major break-away contractors currently involved are: Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Limited; NG Bailey Building Services; Crown House Technologies; Gratte Brothers; Spie Matthew Hall; Shepherd Engineering Services (SES); and T. Clarke Plc.

Unite has been told by these major employers that they will no longer be party to the following agreements: JIB (Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry); SJIB (Scottish Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry); JIB-PMES (Joint Industry Board for Plumbing Mechanical Engineering Services in England and Wales); SNIJIB (Scottish and Northern Ireland Joint Industry Board for the Plumbing Industry); HVAC (National Agreement for the Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning, Piping and Domestic Engineering Industry); and MPA (Major Projects Agreement).