The Scottish Affairs Select Committee which is investigating blacklisting requested further information from UCATT after General Secretary Steve Murphy raised serious concerns about the industrial relations practices being conducted on the site by principal contractor Laing O'Rourke. Mr Murphy raised his concerns when he gave evident to the select committee last month.
Alder Hey is a publicly funded construction project and is currently the largest site in Liverpool. UCATT began discussions about representation on the project with the client before Laing O'Rourke was awarded the project. Once Laing O'Rourke was appointed such discussions effectively ended.
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UCATT have been barred from normal access to the site and the workforce, and are only being offered very limited access to the workers at their induction. Laing O'Rourke has blocked all discussions about worker representatives, including union safety representatives.
UCATT believes that the lack of safety representatives is thought to be a major factor in a spate of accidents on the site. In the past fortnight there have been five accidents on the site resulting in injuries to workers. These include broken limbs and a worker who suffered a crushed pelvis.
In UCATT's evidence it is explained how despite there being a local labour agreement for the site, existing members of the Laing O'Rourke workforce who live locally, have been blocked from transferring to the site and instead remain on projects 100s of miles away from their homes. UCATT believes that this is because they are known to be union members.
UCATT also reports that large numbers of the current 300 strong workforce are being employed via payroll companies and are therefore officially self-employed. This means that they do not receive holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions and can be dismissed without warning.
In a further sign of the deteriorating working environment on the project, it is understood that many of Laing O’Rourke’s permanent workforce on the site are being offered redundancy. Despite this being a four year project, many of them are accepting this offer.
UCATT have also enlisted the support of local MP Stephen Twigg and Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson in their campaign to ensure union representation on the site. They have written a joint letter to Laing O'Rourke voicing their concerns.
(CD/MH)
