NG Bailey M&E Walkout at AWE Burghfield

M&E Workers Walkout

Over 200 NG Bailey Sparks and Fitters walked off site at AWE Burghfield today (20/09) over suspected Blacklisting and Union busting. The row started on Friday afternoon, when workers were selected for transfer without notice, they had been told by their employer that it was AWE who had requested their removal. 

Anger spread through the workforce over the weekend at the treatment of their colleagues, especially as those selected are all Union members, with one being an elected union site safety rep. The workers held a meeting earlier today and sought answers through the management. 

One worker who has chosen to remain anonymous has told us: 

“AWE could and have removed access to site for workers in the past, we’ve only known it with an investigation and appeals process though, this feels very different” 

The NG Baileys workforce requested their reps ask for proof that AWE had made this decision. They were later informed it was Costain that had made the decision, who along with NG Baileys, had previously subscribed to the consulting association Blacklist. 

Seeing this as misinformation with no satisfactory answers coming, they walked off site this afternoon, requesting proof off their employer that Costains had in fact chosen the employees to be removed from the project, whilst still starting new workers on the project today. 

The firm responded with what workers saw as a lockout threat while also sending official statements saying they would dock any workers taking part in an agreed meeting on site in the morning. 

Updates to follow

Unite Electrical & Mechanical Combine Statement

On Monday 1st March, the Unite Electrical and Mechanical Combine released the below statement.  

Weekly actions across the country are imminent and we will be soon descending onto Hinkley Point to shut the site down.

These are OUR jobs under threat, and we will fight for OUR trade.

Join our channels for updates

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Hinkley Point Deskilling - Unite the Union Press Release

Statement from Unite the Union on the situation at Hinkley Point C. 

Unite statement: Hinkley Point C and Threatened Deskilling of Electricians

An industrial disagreement is ongoing at Hinkley Point C after it was recently discovered that two training standards had been introduced by the Engineering Construction Training Board (ECITB) that would undermine the role of the electrician, without Unite, the UK’s construction union, input or agreement.

Defective training halted

The matter has been raised directly with the client EDF who have reacted to Unite’s concerns. All training in this area has been postponed until the problem has been resolved. The disputed standards relate to cabling and containment work the ‘bread and butter’ work for electricians on new build construction projects.

Unite was alerted to the substandard training standards at an early stage. There are no electricians working at Hinkley Point C, currently undertaking cabling and containment work, as this phase of the project is yet to begin.

Due to the early intervention of Unite, the training of any worker or apprentice at Hinkley has not been disrupted as no one has begun to be trained on the ECTIB’s defective training standards.

No deskilling

Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey said 

“The undermining of the role of electrician has been attempted for more than 30 years, most recently in 2011/12 when eight of the major mechanical and electrical (M&E) construction companies promoted the use of non-electrical personnel to carry out skilled electrical tasks under the so called BESNA agreement.

 “Unite defeated the BESNA agreement then and we will defeat this latest attempt to deskill electricians.

 “Our message to the industry is clear. Unite and its electrical membership will oppose any and all efforts to weaken the skill set of the trade which will undermine the industry by introducing non-skilled operatives.

 “Any deskilling of electricians would result in a race to the bottom and would be highly damaging to industrial relations across the sector.”

ENDS

Weekly actions across the country are imminent and we will be soon descending onto Hinkley Point to shut the site down.

These are OUR jobs under threat, and we will fight for OUR trade.

Join our channels for updates

Telegram – Twitter – Facebook - LinkedIn

There Will Be Fireworks

There Will Be Fireworks

On Wednesday 24^th February, the Construction Rank and File kicked off the fight against deskilling at Hinkley Point C by targeting several EDF officers across the country.

It has kicked off over Hinkley Point C as EDF and the M&E firms are trying to introduce installer grades that would take of all the cabling and containment work away from skilled electricians. You can read all about here in the previous post. LINK

 

Protest at EDF London Office

The Rank and File have served notice on EDF. Either the scrap the Electrical Support Operative grade with immediate effect or the campaign will escalate with nationwide protests every week, starting Wednesday 2nd March.

Weekly actions across the country are imminent and we will be soon descending onto Hinkley Point to shut the site down.

These are OUR jobs under threat, and we will fight for OUR trade.

Join our channels for updates

Telegram – Twitter – Facebook - LinkedIn

BREAKING – The installer grade is BACK with 75% of Sparks work under threat.

BREAKING – The Installer grade is BACK with 75% of Sparks work under threat.

In the past couple of weeks it has come out that the MEH Alliance at Hinkley Point C (Balfour Beatty & NG Bailey) are due to bring in the installer grade….. as early as THIS week. Which leaves us no choice but to move quickly into dispute with MEH, the client EDF and any other complicit contractors on Hinkley Point C.

Every few years they try and bring this grade in with the aim of getting up to 75% of electricians work done by others to save money and de-skill the industry…... and every time they have failed. Balfour Beatty and NG Baileys would do well to remember what happened last time they attempted this.

This time they think they have found a way to bring this new grade in through the Hinkley Point Agreement and have been secretly working on an implementation plan since the project began. They are calling it the Electrical Support Operative. The plan is to run 7 week courses on how to install containment or cabling and to pay them a fraction of what an electrician is being paid on the project. This will also reduce the number of electrical apprentices.

There are 9,000km of cable and 404km of containment to install on the project, and the plan from  EDF and MEH is to make sure that none of it will be done by electricians.

This affects ALL of us, not just those at Hinkley Point. As soon as Balfours and Baileys think they have got away with it there, it will be rolled out on to the next major projects they have their eyes on like Sizewell and HS2; and then onto every site across the country. Electrical Support Operatives installing all of the containment and cabling on all jobs, taking 75% of our work. Leaving just the terminations and testing for electricians.

The Unite the Union EMC (Electrical & Mechanical Combine) issued the following statement on 14^th February.

The Chair of the EMC attended a meeting with Unite and EDF on 17^th February and issued the following statement that evening, shortly followed by the NECC (National Engineering Construction Committee).

 

The National Rank & File held an emergency zoom meeting on the 20^th February and the feeling in the room was that of anger. It was unanimous that we will not accept any attempt at de-skilling our trade and will resist this attack with direct action, starting immediately.

 

Weekly actions across the country are imminent and we will be soon descending onto Hinkley Point to shut the site down.

This is OUR jobs under threat, and we will fight for OUR trade.

Join our channels for updates

Telegram – Twitter – Facebook - LinkedIn

BREAKING NEWS

Manchester Airport Rank and File demonstration postponed

Last week, the North West Construction Rank and File called for a demonstration at Manchester Airport in response to the disgusting way that 70 sparks and fitters were treated by JCK Limited at the outset of the Covid-19 lockdown and the lack of care given by the client and its share holders.

The Principal Contractor, Vanderlande, closed the Manchester T2 Transformation Project site due to safety concerns over Covid-19 at the end of March and with that, JCK decided to lay off everyone without any notice or support.

At the beginning of May, Unite the Union released a statement which can be read here LINK.

After pressure from the National Construction Rank and File, Unite the Union, the Australian ETU and with the issue also featuring on ITV Granada (video below), Manchester Airport yesterday (Wednesday 3rd June) contacted Unite and asked for a meeting to discuss the situation and work out a way forward.

Whilst the Rank and File welcome this development, we must stress that IF there is not a satisfactory outcome from the meeting then the demonstration will be back on.

Frank Morris, National Construction Rank and File member and Unite the Union Executive Council member for Construction said “It has been well known for a while that the Vanderlande site was rife with bullying and precarious employment. Everyone involved in this comes out in a bad light, not just JCK for their attitude and treatment of workers but also Manchester Airport and the Manchester Councils that have acted appallingly with their its nothing to do with us attitude."

Since the project started in 2019, it has gained a name for itself locally as a site where bullying, intimidation and rule by fear are acceptable and the norm. Workers are rarely employed via PAYE with full terms and conditions but engaged through various forms of precarious employment and agencies. One worker was sacked before the lockdown for raising Health and Safety concerns over site practices and Covid-19. A few days later the site was shut by Vanderlande for that very reason.

The most worrying part of this is that nearly 65% of MAG are owned by the ten metropolitan borough councils of Greater Manchester, which are all controlled by the Labour Party with a Labour Mayor. So far, the majority of the group have been unsupportive. 

The ten councils who make up the group are;

•             Bolton

•             Bury

•             Manchester

•             Oldham

•             Rochdale

•             Salford

•             Stockport

•             Thameside

•             Trafford

•             Wigan

Urgent Message to ALL Unite Construction Workers

 Urgent Message to ALL Unite Construction Workers

Construction Sector EC Elections

This week ballot papers were sent out to all members of Unite the Union. 

The Rank and File met in Glasow earlier this year and voted to back 

 Jimmy Tyson - Joe Pisani - Frank Morris - Tony Seaman

 
It is vitally important that Construction Members use their vote for the above four. 

We need Rank & File lay member representation at the top table of Unite and with these four candidates we will have that.

If you havent received a ballot paper by Friday 7th April, contact the ballot enquiry service 

on 0800 783 3856

Members who have not received a ballot paper by Friday 7 April 2017 should contact the ballot enquiry service on 0800 783 3856 - See more at: http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/about-us/structure/2017-general-secretary-election/#sthash.BcgIu1gB.dpuf

Members who have not received a ballot paper by Friday 7 April 2017 should contact the ballot enquiry service on 0800 783 3856 - See more at: http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/about-us/structure/2017-general-secretary-election/#sthash.BcgIu1gB.dpuf

Members who have not received a ballot paper by Friday 7 April 2017 should contact the ballot enquiry service on 0800 783 3856 - See more at: http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/about-us/structure/2017-general-secretary-election/#sthash.BcgIu1gB.dpuf

EVERY VOTE COUNTS!! 

NRL Continue the Blacklist?

NRL Continue the Blacklist?

A number of weeks ago Alan Wainright, the whistleblower who exposed the Consulting Association construction blacklist, published an article on his blog relating to employment agencies involvement in blacklisting. We are all suspicious about the underhanded tactics of agencies with blacklisting and the Umbrella Scam, but this article does appear to have evidence that NRL were complicit in blacklisting workers, including respected rank & file leader electrician Steve Acheson.

  It is time to expose these parasite agencies and all that they are up to, by undermining our ability to make a decent living through the "Umbrella Scam" and preventing us from making a living at all through blacklisting! If you have ever worked through NRL then this is a must read.

Please read and share this far and wide!

Alan Wainwright Blog 

CONTEMPORARY BLACKLISTING? - NRL

How much is a pay rise worth?

How much is a pay rise worth?

This article started life as a bit of a joke with a good rank and file activist. We were talking about the appalling pay offer from the ECA to the JIB, and how much wages have gone down in the industry over the last couple of years. When he said, half jokingly, that the general rule of thumb was that you used to be paid about 5 pints an hour, then he asked me how much a pint was in London. Now obviously the cost of a pint varies from about £3.50 in Wetherspoons, to £5 if you want to drink somewhere nice that doesn’t smell like sick (if the companies do ever want to measure our wages by pints, they will probably pick the 25p a can Tesco value lager). But even at Wetherspoons rates we’re not getting our 5 pints an hour. What it did get me wondering though is how much exactly our wages have lagged behind the cost of living, so I decided to do a little research.

The first thing I had to decide was when to start the comparison from, I decided to start it from the 2010 pay rise, because that is when wages really started to stagnate as we subsequently never received a pay rise for 3 years.

Unrest builds as Ballot papers land

Unrest builds as ballot papers land

Unrest is starting to creep in on construction sites, as ballot papers start landing on the doormats of thousands of Electricians across the UK.

There has been a blatant attempt by the ECA to de-skill the electrical industry and finally rid itself of what little skilled workforce it still has. We are getting used to hearing the headlines of 'Skills Shortages in Construction', so the obviously answer to the ECA is to de-skill the industry even further. 

Forget about proper apprenticeships for school leavers and training up the next generation of Electricians. Forget about direct employment and making the industry attractive to young people. 

The ECA want to do away with all of that and fill the Electrical Industry with part qualified labourers.

This has really hit a nerve on sites across the UK and talk of unofficial wildcat strikes has been mentioned on several major projects including refineries, power stations, Crossrail to name a few. Unite are working hard in the background updating members details and planning for full industrial action. The construction Rank & File have actions and plans in place ready to go.

Calling all JIB Electricians

Employers continue their de-skilling agenda

Are the ECA really this stupid? Wildcat strikes, 

official action and Rank & File action?

When you ballot paper arrives tick the right box

REJECT REJECT REJECT

These are the reasons for rejection given by the Unite committee that originally rejected the offer.

The committee is made up of Electricians from all corners of the UK

There are only two criteria for receiving a ballot paper

1. Hold a current JIB card

2. Be a member of Unite the Union

If you can say yes to both of the above and do not receive a ballot paper by Friday 11th July then please phone Bernard McAulays office 01132 364830 and request one is sent out ASAP

Calling ALL JIB Electricians

Calling ALL JIB Electricians

If you hold a JIB card and are a Union member then next week a very important letter will be

falling on your doormat and it’s imperative that you take the time to read, understand and return it immediately.

The ECA have made their final offer for the 2015/2016 JIB wage negotiations and the Unions lay activists and representatives met on 4^th June in Leeds to hear and discuss it. It was heavily rejected by the group, but as it was the final offer, a decision has been made by Unite to send it out to the membership in the form of a consultative ballot. 

The ballot is open to ALL JIB card holders. It does not matter if you are direct, agency, self employed or even left the industry. YOUR opinion is wanted and it is vitally important we knock back this fresh attack on OUR trade

Employers continue their de-skilling agenda!

Employers Continue Their De-skilling Agenda!

By A.N. Gryspark

So it's 2/3 years since the employers charter, BESNA was thrown our way, and was successfully stopped from coming into existence(although we all know it goes on). However, we are not naive enough to think that the employers would give up with their agenda of de-skilling the industry, are we? Of course not, and as expected it has arrived at our door once again through the JIB agreement! 

The deal on offer from the ECA is quite clear on what it is about, accept a 2%(30p) rise for 2015, a 3%(45p) rise for 2016 but you must agree to the introduction of 2 new "Entrant Grades" as they are calling them.

So what are these "Entrant Grades"?

Branch meeting held outside due to CIS tax changes

Branch Meeting held outside due to CIS tax changes

London Construction Branch (follow on twitter - @Unite0555) held their monthly meeting last week as they do every month at Conway Hall. But this month was slightly different. The meeting had to be held in the park outside as Conway Hall wasn't big enough to hold everyone. This itself shows the level of anger running through sites across the London and the whole UK. 

There was alot of anger over the fact that Umbrella companies are even legal, let alone the fact that companies signed up to National Agreements have the front to push workers on to them. NG Baileys have been the first to take workers on the cards after workers at Three Bridges Station and Tottenham Court Road Crossrail Station forced their hand. Since the action by the two sites, Baileys have offered others the chance to also go on the cards.

What happened at Three Bridges is here in an earlier post 

The main conversation was the tax changes hitting the industry. For years we have been forced to work as Self Employed,

John Sheridan for Construction EC Seat

Unite the Union EC Construction Seat

To Unite members, you may or may not be aware, but sometime this week you will receive a ballot paper to vote for who you would like to represent us in Construction on the Executive Council. 

The Construction Rank & File recommends and fully supports JOHN SHERIDAN for that seat

Ballot papers should be hitting your doormats this week. Previously there have been two seats for Construction. Now we are down to just one. One seat for two candidates.

Do not delay, as soon as it arrives, tick the boxes and send it back. 

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

The Rank & File Supports and Recommends John Sheridan 

Rank & File, Rent-a-Mob or a breath of fresh air?

Rank and File – Rent-a-Mob or a breath of fresh air?

 

 From the "Unite Scottish Rank & File Blog"

There are those within Unite the Union who view the rank and file as upstarts, a renegade group led by former EPIU members, who can be wheeled out in times of industrial strife at sites up and down the country, but ‘we’ don’t really want much to do with them.

It’s true that the rank and file are involved in disputes within the construction industry. It grew out of the Besna dispute
where we led the fightback against the rogue employer threatening to tear up our national agreements. Our ability to call for unofficial action was not only crucial and effective, it was also seen as an asset for this type of campaign, and we were also involved in the implementation of the leverage strategy that led to an outstanding victory. We were held up as heroes of the labour movement and our views were sought in various platforms up and down the country.