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Over the last year construction workers have been involved in unofficial disputes and protests over the exploitation of non UK workers and the exclusion of UK workers from construction sites up and down the country. Today's meeting crucially decides whether the construction industry moves into an era of industrial peace or continued unrest.
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At the TUC yesterday, Unite's Joint General Secretary, Derek Simpson, called for action to end the unfair application of the Posted Workers directive which is responsible for giving employers carte blanche to ride roughshod over union collective bargaining agreements. This is most vividly demonstrated in the construction sector where nationally agreed terms and conditions can be ignored by sub contractors from outside the UK who import their own workers on lower pay and conditions to work on major contracts in the UK. Lindsey Oil was just one example.
Unite balloted its members for offical strike action because the employers' body, the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA) rejected the union's key demands for improvements to the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI). The improvements aimed to protect workers from employers exploiting the Posted Workers Directive. After months of talks a deal has been reached which will be presented to workers' representatives tomorrow. The contents of the deal will not be made available until the workers representatives have seen the terms of the deal.
(CD/GK)
