Thread: Gordon Brown appeals for end to foreign workers dispute

Gordon Brown appeals for end to foreign workers dispute

PM says the firm at the centre of the row has promised that British workers will be free to apply if its Italian sub-contractor needs to hire any more workers

* Andrew Sparrow and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 February 2009 16.40 GMT



Protesters at the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA

Gordon Brown today claimed that he would uphold "a level playing field for British workers" as he appealed for an end to the dispute about the use of foreign employees on construction contracts.

The prime minister said that Total, the firm at the centre of the row, had promised that British workers would be free to apply if the Italian subcontractor it is using needed to hire any more workers and he predicted that other companies would make similar promises.

Further details of the government's position were given in an emergency statement from Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, in the Lords this afternoon.

The dispute has arisen because Total has awarded a contract for a construction project at the Lindsey oil refinery to the Italian-based IREM. IREM brought in around 400 of its own employees from abroad to do the work, a move allowed under the EU's posted workers directive provided that the foreign employees have the same rights as local workers.

Last night Total put out a statement saying: "It is legal for subcontractors to supply their own employees but, where vacancies are advertised, we will work with our subcontractors to ensure that British workers are considered in the same way as anyone else."

Today, at a news conference with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, Brown welcomed the Total statement and said that he expected other companies in a similar position to follow its lead.

"[Total] have said that British workers, where jobs are being advertised, will be free to apply and will be accepted on their merits. I believe that other companies throughout the country will make that absolutely clear as well," he said.

"When that becomes clear, then people will see that there's to be no discrimination in future against British workers, even if it's a foreign contractor working on a British contract."

Brown said that the unofficial strike action taking place was counterproductive.

"The government will continue to uphold employment safeguards that require a level playing field for British workers and where we find evidence that companies are denying British workers jobs by breaking these requirements, we will take action," he said.

Earlier Mandelson said that the two key accusations being made about Total were untrue and he defended the European Union rules that allowed foreigners to work on construction contracts in the UK.

The minister spoke out as David Cameron, the Conservative leader, accused Gordon Brown of contributing to the problem by raising unrealistic expectations with his promise of "British jobs for British workers".

In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mandelson said that there were two allegations being made about the Total contract: that British workers had been excluded from the plant, and that the foreign workers were being underpaid. He said that both charges had been refuted.

Mandelson said that companies did have the right to subcontract work and that at Lindsey the contract had originally gone to a firm that would have employed mainly British workers. But that company could not meet the contract, which was why the work went to IREM.

"Not only are normal wages and conditions operating here for all works, but if vacancies at the plant are advertised the company have made it clear that British workers can apply," Mandelson said.

The business secretary was criticised at the weekend for saying that EU laws protected the rights of British workers to seek jobs on the continent. Mandelson conceded there were not many people from Teesside who took advantage of work opportunities across Europe, but said he was not suggesting Britons should "get on their bike" to look for work.

"No one is forcing anyone to travel. There are other jobs being created in the UK economy. What is at stake is the opportunity for the movement of people who if they wish can apply for jobs or follow their companies around the European Union," he said.

Mandelson also renewed his appeal for the strikers to call off their action.

In a separate interview, Cameron today reiterated his belief that Brown had been wrong to use the phrase "British jobs for British workers" accusing the prime minister of "mis-leadership".

He was questioned on GMTV about the posted workers directive and the way it allowed a foreign firm that won a UK contract to bring in workers from abroad. Asked whether this was right, Cameron said: "All jobs should be open to all, that is the key thing. If there is a firm that is disqualifying British workers from working then that wouldn't be right."

He added: "I think there is another lesson we have got to learn from this, which I said at the time: the prime minister was completely wrong to borrow that slogan off the British National party and talk about British jobs for British workers.

"It was something he couldn't deliver, so it wasn't leadership, it was mis-leadership.

"He should actually deeply regret that because I think that lies behind a lot of the anger that we are seeing at the moment."

A spokesman for the Department for Energy said today that it was not aware of the protests having any impact on gas, electricity or fuel supplies.

"Equally, National Grid advises that gas and electricity supplies should be adequate to meet demand even in the cold weather this coming week," the spokesman said. "As ever, we continue to monitor the situation carefully."

Officials said the unofficial strikes were by maintenance and construction contractors, not core permanent staff, so they expected little or no impact on operations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009 ... on-strikes

Nuclear power workers join wildcat strike action over foreign labour

• Contractors at Sellafield and Heysham stage unofficial walkout
• More than 1,000 demonstrators hold meeting at Lindsey
• Gordon Brown calls action 'counter-productive'

* James Sturcke and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 February 2009 16.09 GMT

The wave of wildcat strike action that has swept across the UK escalated today as hundreds more workers walked out in the protest against foreign labour.

Contract workers from the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, the Heysham nuclear power station in Lancashire and a site at Staythorpe, in Nottinghamshire, joined the unofficial action over the hiring of Italian and Portuguese workers on a Lincolnshire power station project.

Workers from the Longannet power station in Scotland joined those at the Grangemouth oil refinery, who voted to continue their strike, while 200 employees at Fiddlers Ferry power station in Widnes, Cheshire, also walked out this morning.

In west Wales, up to 500 contractors at the South Hook LNG gas terminal in Milford Haven downed tools for a second day. Many of the strikers took part in a similar protest on Friday. Around 150 contract workers at Aberthaw power station, in south Wales, also walked out.

Outside the Lindsey oil refinery in Killingholme, Lincolnshire, where the protests began, more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered for a mass meeting, voting unanimously to allow union officials to start talks with management.

"Over the last week, your heroic actions here have inspired thousands in our county, hundreds of thousands in our country, and millions across the globe," Kenny Ward, from the Unite union, told the crowd.

"The fight started here at Lindsey: the fight against discrimination, the fight against victimisation and the fight to put bread on your table for your children. Gordon Brown said it is indefensible. If the prime minister will not defend the working man, if parliament will not defend the working man, then the union will defend the working man."

He said "people in Europe" needed to take note, and judges who interpreted the law "to the advantage of the employer" needed to have "a rethink".

Gordon Brown said the unofficial strikes sweeping the country were "counter-productive". Speaking at a joint press conference after talks with the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, Brown said his priority was to promote the jobs of British workers in the face of the current recession.

"I recognise people are concerned about their jobs," he said. The prime minister insisted the government was doing everything it could to ensure fair treatment for UK workers.

The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, denied that UK firms and workers faced discrimination, and called for the unofficial strikes to stop. He said he understood the concerns of British workers but stressed that Total, which runs the Lindsey plant, had rebutted claims that UK workers had been excluded from contracts.

In a statement to the House of Lords this afternoon, Mandelson said it was important to "respect and guarantee" the principle of free movement, which was an "intrinsic part" of membership of the European Union. Around 300,000 British companies operated elsewhere in the EU, he said.

"On the Lindsey site, the great majority of the workers are actually British, so clearly no policy of discrimination or exclusion of British nationals is being operated at the refinery," he said.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said Mandelson was "in denial about the nature of the problem" and the Labour party had been aware of the issue for five years.

"The facts are that the manner in which the EU 1996 Posted Workers Directive was applied into UK law in 1999 was botched," he said. "The Labour party recognised this in 2004 and made a manifesto commitment to apply Article 3( properly into UK law. That commitment, which was repeated in 2008, has not been honoured."

About 600 mechanical contractors met at the Sellafield site's Yottenfews car park at 7.30am to agree a 24-hour walkout in support of the Lindsey action.

One of the strikers, the GMB convener Willie Doggert, said: "All we want is a level playing field. It's not just about foreign workers. We need jobs to be advertised with transparency so that everybody gets a fair crack of the whip at getting them."

Total said talks would be held today with the conciliation service Acas, senior union representatives and Jacobs, the main contractor at Lindsey.

"We recognise the concerns of contractors but we must stress that it has never been, and never will be, the policy of Total to discriminate against British companies or British workers. We have been a major local employer for 40 years and the majority of our 500 permanent staff are local," the company said.

It said its £200m investment in the site would help to secure the long-term future of the refinery and local employment opportunities.

A small group of protesters gathered about 100 yards from the Forest Pines hotel, near S****horpe, where the talks were understood to be taking place. Police were guarding both entrances to the hotel.

Management at Sellafield said the contractors who walked out this morning had been building new storage facilities. A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said there were very few foreign workers employed at the site, and 90% of contractors were from west Cumbria.

A similar row has been raging at Staythorpe for months and several demonstrations have been held to protest that UK workers were being overlooked in favour of foreign staff.

Around 700 contractors at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland walked out again today after unofficial action on Friday. They decided they would return to work tomorrow.

The wildcat action began after the Italian company IREM won a £200m construction contract and supplied its own permanent workforce. It is understood 100 Italian and Portuguese workers are already on site and 300 more are expected in the coming days and weeks.

Moves are under way to set up a panel under an independent chairman to review the recruitment. Total had put a contract out to tender for the construction project with five UK firms and two European contractors.

On Friday, up to 3,000 workers from at least 11 oil refineries and power plants in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland mounted protests and unofficial strikes over the contract.

Mandelson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that claims that British workers had been excluded from the disputed contract, or that foreign workers were being paid less than the going rate, were unfounded. He conceded few people from Teesside took advantage of work opportunities across Europe, but denied that he was suggesting Britons should "get on their bike" to look for work.

"No one is forcing anyone to travel. There are other jobs being created in the UK economy. What is at stake is the opportunity for the movement of people who, if they wish, can apply for jobs or follow their companies around the European Union."

The shadow business secretary, Kenneth Clarke, condemned the strikes. "I understand people being worried about their jobs; I don't think this is the right way to demonstrate it," he said. "The idea that people think the reaction to these concerns is to start threatening to close down power generation at the time of a cold snap is obviously something we all disapprove of."

A spokesman for the Energy Department said: "We're not aware of any current or potential impact of the unofficial strikes on gas, electricity or fuel supplies."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009 ... cat-strike

Dear Britain: Get Stuffed. Sincerely, New Labour

John Morton
Feb 2nd 2009
12 Comments


To: The Rt Hon. Peter Mandelson esq;

As if we weren’t already going out of our minds in fits of rage at the rampant incompetence, gutter rutting corruption, untrammeled arrogance and utterly diabolic parody of a “governmentâ€

From Times Online
February 2, 2009

Strikes over foreign workers spread to Sellafield as Mandelson ups stakes

See the video at the link http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 640794.ece

Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent

Lord Mandelson today raised the stakes in the row over foreign workers by declaring that "no laws were broken" by the company which brought over Italian and Portuguese employees.

As a new wave of wildcat strikes hit Britain, the Business Secretary appeared to pre-empt the findings of Acas, the conciliation service, which has been asked by government to determine if any laws were broken at the Total refinery in Lincolnshire.

The Government's stance appears to have inflamed workers at energy and construction sites around Britain. Amongst the walkouts this morning include:

- Hundreds of contract workers at Sellafield nuclear site, which the management said they expected to last a day.

- Around 700 contractors at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland, who took unofficial action on Friday, walked out again today. They also decided they would return to work tomorrow.

- Two hundred workers at Fiddlers Ferry power station in Widnes, Cheshire, also walked out in support this morning

- The Longannet power station in Scotland was also hit.

- Contract workers at the Heysham nuclear power station in Lancashire and a site at Staythorpe near Newark in Nottinghamshire also joined the strikes

Speaking on the BBC, Lord Mandelson rebutted union allegations that employment laws were broken and Portuguese and Italians were being paid less than the going rate, adding Acas "would confirm" this later today.

The peer also defended the company, saying the contract at the centre of the dispute was originally awarded to a British firm but it did not fulfil it so it was given to an Italian company which then drew on its own workforce.

His stance is likely to escalate the row with the unions, who are angry at the ability of companies to bring in foreign workers for below the union-negotiated going rate at construction and energy plants around the country.

The row caught national attention on Friday after an unofficial walkout by workers at the Total's Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire over the arrival of the foreign workers which sparked copycat protests across Britain.

Yesterday saw the government in disarray over the issue, with ministers forced into an embarrassing U-turn yesterday after Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, suggested that the Government was preparing to bow to union demands to push for measures in Europe to protect British jobs.

Unions want a new EU directive to overturn a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2007 that made it easier for companies to circumvent pay deals by hiring foreigners on lower wages by making it harder for unions to strike. They believe that Gordon Brown could be forced to take action after promising “British jobs for British workersâ€