No let up on protest
An unemployed worker’s boots were hung over a metal barrier erected to prevent protesters gaining access to the Staythorpe Power Station site.
The boots were left by unemployed steel erector Mr Gerry Archer who travelled from Teeside to join a protest at the power station gates on Wednesday.
UK workers say construction jobs at the new £660m gas-fired station are going to foreign labour.
“There are 2m unemployed in Britain yet we are employing EU foreign labour here in the very heart of Britain,” Mr Archer said.
Alstom Power is building the power station for RWE npower.
Police officers at the peaceful, early morning protest privately admitted a respect and admiration for the commitment and determination of men like Mr Archer.
In an effort to avoid being accused of bias, officers no longer have free cooked breakfasts in the on-site canteen at the end of protests.
Also there on Wednesday was scaffolder Mr Andy Moffat, one of 20 jobless Glaswegians who boarded a coach the night before for the journey to Staythorpe where they joined 130 other protesters.
The coach was provided by colleagues in their region who are in work.
Unemployed shop steward Mr Kevin Gough, of Christopher Crescent, Balderton, said: “We are disappointed to still be having to come here but there’s no sign of Alstom opening the doors to UK labour.”
For the first time in the long-running British Jobs For British Workers campaign the unions claim to have evidence that international employers like Alstom, are breaching the UK national wages and conditions agreement by paying foreign labour less than their UK counterparts.
On Friday, the GMB said it was in possession of the contract of a Polish worker employed at a second site currently contested by the unions, the Isle of Grain in Kent.
It threatens a national ballot on industrial action should employers not agree to full auditing of workers there and at Staythorpe.
The contract of the Polish worker, employed by Alstom’s Polish sub-contractor Remak, shows him earning £10 an hour — £4 less than what he was due as an advanced craftsman.
An Alstom spokesman said: “These workers are now being paid the correct rate of pay and we have made it clear to our sub-contractors that we will not tolerate any breaches of national agreements on pay and conditions.
“We are reinforcing the need for all our sub-contractors to be fully compliant with these agreements at all times.”
Alstom denies discrimination in employment.
