A group of construction workers have been demonstrating outside the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in the latest protest against the national agreement for equal pay and terms and conditions for workers.
The backlash from the Unite union is over plans to introduce new terms of employment under the Building Engineering Services National Agreement (BESNA), which has been developed by the HVCA in partnership with Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, T Clarke, Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, MJN Colston, N G Bailey, Shepherd Engineering Services and SPIE Matthew Hall.
Unite regional officer, Steve Syson, told the
BBC: 'Construction workers are getting increasingly angry by the attack by some employers on their pay and skills. Skilled workers, like electricians, plumbers and heating and ventilating engineers, are set to see their livelihoods devastated, if these companies get away with cutting their pay by a third and taking away the skilled jobs.'
Unite claimed a contractor at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, hadtold employees to agree to terms which would mean a 30 per cent pay cut. Contractor SPIE Matthew Hall told the
BBC that wages would not be cut, however the Unite union said a ballot would be held on industrial action.
Unite claimed that SPIE Matthew Hall was one of a number of contractors thathad issued workers with legal notice of their intention to dismiss, with notice, thousands of employees before re-engaging them on the new contracts.
HVCA chief executive, Blane Judd said: 'It is utterly untrue for these protesters to claim that employees will have their wages cut and workers will be blacklisted following the introduction of a new building engineering services national agreement.
In addition, no-one will lose their jobs as a result of the changes that eight employers including SPIE Matthew Hall are proposing to make, nor be downgraded through a process of de-skilling.'
Unite has previously targeted other sites including Grangemouth oil refinery, Glasgow Velodrome, Edinburgh City Council and most recently Cambuslang fire station in Scotland, a Balfour Beatty construction site.
