Scottish construction workers stage protest outside Cambuslang fire
station
4 October 2011
Construction workers, who face up to 30 per cent pay cuts
because rogue employers are tearing up long held Scottish national
agreements, will be demonstrating outside Cambuslang fire station
in Lanarkshire tomorrow (Wednesday 5 October).
Over 100 workers, members of the country’s largest trade union
Unite, will be staging their protest outside Cambuslang Fire
Station, Clydesmill Industrial Estate, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire
between 6.30am and 8am.
The Cambuslang fire station has been targeted for the protest as
its contractor Balfour Beatty is one of the seven employers behind
the breakaway move.
The focus of their anger is plans by Balfour Beatty and another
six breakaway construction companies, which are imposing
semi-skilled grades into the mechanical and electrical sector in
Scotland.
Unite regional officer, Scott Foley, said: "Our members are
skilled electricians, plumbers and heating and ventilating
operatives who have spent years training and they will not sit back
and accept the de-skilling of their industry and the slashing of
their pay.
"The protest outside this fire station will show just how fired
up our members are at this unprecedented attack on their
livelihoods."
The Cambuslang fire station protest is the latest of several
events that have taken place in Scotland and is part of a national
campaign by Unite to defend construction workers terms and
conditions. Previous targets have been Grangemouth oil refinery,
Glasgow Vellodrome, Edinburgh City Council and on Friday, 7 October
Unite is boycotting a prestigious industry awards ceremony in
Glasgow.
Workers in five of the seven breakaway companies have been
written to by their managers with a stark choice - sign new
contracts on much inferior pay, and terms and conditions or face
the sack on 7 December.
The employers want to withdraw from five long-held agreements
and replace them with a new agreement which will allow employers to
introduce semi-skilled grades and dictate rather than negotiate on
pay, holiday entitlement, overtime, and what constitutes away
work.
But five of the seven have upped the stakes. Balfour Beatty,
Crown House Technologies, Spie Matthew Hall, Shepherd Engineering
Services and NG Bailey have issued Unite with legal notice of their
intention to dismiss, with notice, thousands of employees before
re-engaging them on new inferior contracts.
ENDS
For further information please contact Unite communications
officer Liane Groves on 07793 661657 or Unite regional officer
Scott Foley on 07810 157915.
Notes to news editors:
The eight major break-away contractors currently involved are:
Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Limited; N G Bailey Building
Services; Crown House Technologies; Gratte Brothers; MJN Colston
Limited; 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: SJIB (Scottish Joint
Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry);JIB (Joint
Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry); SNIJIB
(Scottish and Northern Ireland Joint Industry Board for the
Plumbing Industry); JIB-PMES (Joint Industry Board for Plumbing
Mechanical Engineering Services in England and Wales); HVAC
(National Agreement for the Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning,
Piping and Domestic Engineering Industry); MPA (Major Projects
Agreement).
