The Unite union has called a national ballot on industrial action in the engineering construction industry over revision of the national union agreement for that industry. Meanwhile, on 11 June, construction workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery - centre of the wave of walk-out in January/ February - have struck.
The Lindsey strike is reported as being about workers already on site with one subcontractor being sacked while new hiring is done for other phases of the contract. On the reports so far, the issue is not the replacement of workers operating under the national union agreement by a "posted" workforce from elsewhere in the EU. According to Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, another union covering engineering construction workers, it is that "workers may be being victimised for earlier industrial action".
The Unite union says:
Unite, Britain's biggest union, is preparing to ballot up to 20,000 members in engineering and construction for official strike action following the failure to reach a deal to renew a national agreement, covering workers building and maintaining Britain's power stations and petrochemical sites.
Construction employers, represented by the Engineering Construction Industry Association, have rejected union demands for amendments to the national agreement, which would deliver fairness and long term stability in an industry that has been plagued with problems.
At a meeting of national shop stewards in Manchester today, the decision was taken to support a national ballot for industrial action.
The National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) has operated since 1981. The agreement has seen an era of continuous improvement in safety, it is one of the safest sectors in British construction.
Stability and guaranteed terms of employment with a directly employed workforce are supposed to be guiding principles, but employers have ridden roughshod over the agreement undercutting UK workers and exploiting non UK Labour.
Union demands for transparency, stability and protection for UK and non UK Labour alike have been rejected by the employers.
Unite's national officer, Tom Hardacre, said: "Construction employers have rejected reasonable and just demands which would have delivered long term stability and fairness in an industry that has been plagued by instability and numerous injustices.
"We now have no other choice but to ballot our members for official industrial action. A 'yes' vote will disrupt many of the UK's major construction projects and petrochemical sites.
"The unions have set out to introduce a Posted Workers Directive for the construction industry on the basis one has not been implemented properly in the UK. Instead employers are attempting to dilute a national agreement and turn it into a code of practice. With so much bad practice in the industry this approach from the employers beggars belief."
Union demands include a call for an equalisation of benefits for non UK and UK workers, a comprehensive auditing procedure to ensure employers keep to the national agreement. The unions are also calling for all workers on construction projects to have the correct competencies for doing the job.
