It has been revealed this week, that the anti-union, anti-workers rights,anti-workers safety and MAJOR construction Blacklister, Laing O'Rourke, were threatened by EDF to have their Hinkley Point contract ripped up, if they did not sign up to the site agreements.
They had been standing strong and resisting signing up to the ground-breaking EDF/Union agreements but when EDF threatened to remove them from the project they succumbed and signed up.
All over the country Laing O'Rourke are currently blocking Union access to its sites, ignoring democratically elected Shop Stewards & Safety Reps and treating site Health & Safety with total disregard.
Laing O'Rourkes Mechanical & Electrical arm, Crown House Technologies have been told by EDF that they will not be allowed on Hinkley Point due to their behaviour in recent years with regards to BESNA and their resignation from the JIB.
Laing O'Rourkes Mechanical & Electrical arm, Crown House Technologies have been told by EDF that they will not be allowed on Hinkley Point due to their behaviour in recent years with regards to BESNA and their resignation from the JIB.
*At another London site, Cheesegrater, the elected Safety Rep is being refused recognition and is having to use his personal holiday days to receive the relevant Health and Safety training.
Article taken from www.building.co.uk website
Union’s boss Steve Murphy tells MPs contractor was dragged “kicking and screaming” into widely-touted Hinkley industrial agreement
The agreement, struck in the first instance between the three main construction unions and EDF, insists upon a fully directly-employed workforce and includes an ‘employment affairs unit’ run by EDF but including union and contractor representatives to monitor compliance with the agreement.
It also contains several anti-blacklisting provisions and last month EDF’s site construction director on the project Nigel Cann told the committee that contractors on the project would face fines or removal from the project if found to be involved in blacklisting.
Murphy described the agreement as a “blueprint” for the industry but added: “Contractors like Laing O’Rourke were kicking and screaming over this agreement.
“They didn’t want to sign up to it…they wanted a piece of the action [at Hinkley] but they didn’t want this agreement until the client EDF said ‘you can take it or leave it’.
“Laing O’Rourke, to be fair, employs directly but when we see them across the table to discuss this agreement it’s a problem. When we try to get on their sites it’s a problem. There is something there that’s not right.”
Murphy had earlier told the MPs that Ucatt had most difficulty accessing the site of Laing O’Rourke’s £167m Alder Hey hospital project in Liverpool, adding that this made it impossible to check the working rule agreement was adhered to and to check the number of union members on site.
Committee chairman Ian Davidson responded to Murphy: “Why don’t you put something in writing about not having access.
“One we’ve got that, we will decide how to proceed. It may be that we want to write to Laing O’Rourke and bring them in before us.”
Murphy and three other union bosses, Kevin Coyne and Bernard McAulay from Unite the union and Phil Whitehurst, the GMB’s national construction officer, all agreed that the agreement struck at Hinkley was a “best-practice” model which should be rolled out across the industry.
Coyne said Unite was in discussion with other nuclear new build clients such as NuGen and Horizon about applying the agreement on their projects.
A Laing O’Rourke spokesperson said:“Unions are not barred from our sites. Where a reasonable request for access is made and within the parameters of the approach, which is agreed locally, it is granted. We totally accept and support the role of the trade union movement and the support they can provide to our employees and the Group.
“Ucatt officials have been offered a slot within our site inductions to advertise the benefits of trade union membership and seek to recruit our employees into membership. In addition we offer a voluntary check off facility to those employees who wish to have their trade union subscriptions deducted from their weekly wage. Ucatt officials in other regions chose to take up the option to attend our project inductions, but refuse to accept this arrangement at Alder Hey.
“As with any contractual negotiation, there were points with the Hinkley C agreement that generated healthy debate. Laing O’Rourke is pleased with the agreement and proud that it is being held up as a blueprint for the industry going forward.”
Article taken from www.building.co.uk website
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