Construction union UCATT are calling on Birmingham Council to take action to ensure that tenants will receive vitally needed home improvements and skilled workers are not thrown on the scrap heap.

The 40 workers were employed by contractor Wates Living Space on Birmingham’s Decent Homes project in the south of the City. The present contract ended on 1st October 2011.

The majority of the work involves installing new kitchens and bathrooms into council properties in order to bring them up to the Decent Homes standard.

The problem is that although Birmingham Council re-tendered the contract it will not begin until 1st April 2012. Wates Living Space bid for the new Decent Homes contract but were unsuccessful and the work is to be divided between four contractors Thomas Vales, Willmott Dixon, Lovells and Morgan Sindall.

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Due to the six months' gap between one contract beginning and the original ending the normal Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) will probably not apply. Rather than transfer to the new contractors the workers are now facing redundancy from Wates Living Space.

Wates Living Space has offered to keep the workers in employment and undertaking Decent Homes work until the new contracts begins. On the condition the council pay them an additional £1 million, which in the light of budget issues would not need to be paid until 2012.

However Birmingham Council has rejected this proposal, which will result in delays in the Decent Homes project and the affected workers facing redundancy.

Cheryl Pidgeon, UCATT's Midlands Regional Secretary, said: "Birmingham Council are performing a disservice to their tenants by delaying vitally needed improvements to their homes and standing idlly by while a group of longstanding skilled workers are effectively thrown onto the scrap heap, through no fault of their own. This is a classic example of bureaucratic bungling in Birmingham."

Mrs Pidgeon, added: "Wates Living Space have offered a solution which allows home improvements to continue and keeps workers in employment until the new contracts start. The Council needs to rapidly re-think its earlier objection and accept this offer in the best interests of all concerned."

(CD)