UCATT have welcomed confirmation from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) that workers on the project will continue to be directly employed and receive full employment rights.

UCATT were forced to write to the ODA, seeking reassurances about working practices after the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the trade association for employment agencies, recently claimed that there was a need for a "flexible workforce" on the Olympic Games.

The comments concerning the Olympics were made by Simon Noakes, Chair of REC's construction division, he said: "With landmark projects such as the Olympic games….there is currently over 5,000 construction operatives working in Stratford alone. Projects of this stature make the need for a flexible workforce greater than ever."

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The Olympic Park, operates under strict rules that workers must be directly employed rather than self-employed and paid in accordance with the appropriate industrial agreement. The rules have ensured that workers on the project have not been exploited and receive normal employment rights, such as holiday pay.

The rules have also helped to ensure that there is a very low accident rate on the Olympic Park and levels of security are very high on what is a high profile project. The direct employment rules are also a major factor in helping to ensure that the project is on course to finish on time and on budget.

Following UCATT raising its concerns the ODA swiftly wrote reassuring the union that the ODA will continue to run its "audit programme", to ensure that workers are directly employed and where: "an audit identifies non compliance the employer concerned is required to take corrective action within a defined period of time". The ODA also confirmed that there are "very high levels of direct employment" on the Olympics.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "It is very important that the ODA have rebuffed any suggestion that casualised employment practices will be allowed on the Olympics in the final months of the project. The directly employment rules have ensured that workers have not been exploited, accident levels are low and the project will be completed on time. It is highly regrettable that REC have sought to diminish these achievements."

(CD/KMcA)