SACKED FOR JOINING A UNION

Details: Thursday, 20 September 2012; Written by Site Worker

Video of Day 3 Crossrail dispute - action spreads from Paddington to Tottenham Court Road construction sites. Supermodels were delayed from attending London Fashion Week catwalk shows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp_j9OIaawU

This entire dispute is about Crossrail not wanting a specific UNITE steward working on the project - it is blatant blacklisting. See below for background info:

SACKED FOR JOINING A UNION

28 workers including a UNITE steward and safety rep have been dismissed from the Crossrail project because of they are members of a trade union. The unionised workers employed by E.I.S. Electrical were searched and removed from site last Friday at the instruction of Bam Ferrovial Kier (BFK), the consortium of contractors building Crossrail.

Crossrail is going to be one of the largest infrastructure jobs in the whole of Western Europe – if it is unionised, the workforce will earn good wages and the job will be safe. This is a deliberate attempt by BFK to intimidate workers and keep the union off the project, so they can keep wages down and force through rushed production targets.

Whatever nonsense BFK come up with to justify the dismissals, everyone knows there are 3-4 years work left on the project for these sparks alone. But as soon as the union appeared on the job, the steward was banned from the tunnel and forced to sit in the site offices at Westbourne Park for weeks on end. The Safety Rep was suspended and left to sit at home for the past 13 weeks. Eventually BFK threw EIS off the job just to get rid of the union.

The Managing Director of E.I.S. has given the union a witness statement and states that the only reason the workers and the reps have been removed from the job is because of the union presence.

This is a dispute about safety and money. Even the EIS electrical engineer was sacked after he took a photograph of unsafe high voltage electrical cables. BFK are making money by playing with our lives.

BFK want to save money on Crossrail

We want to save lives on Crossrail

BAM and Kier (part of the BFK consortium) are proven blacklisters of trade union members. They were part of the Consulting Association blacklisting conspiracy exposed in 2009. There is documentary evidence that their senior managers and Directors have illegally victimised union members. We know exactly what they’ve been up to – We’re not going to stand for it on Crossrail. The sparks won their fight against BESNA pay cuts – The rank & file will win the fight for Crossrail.

· SUPPORT THE VICTIMSED CROSSRAIL SPARKS

· END THE BLACKLIST

· UNIONISE CROSSRAIL – ELECT YOUR OWN REPS

· FOR BETTER MONEY & BETTER SAFETY

Site Worker

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Here is a Reelnews video of the protests on the 17th.

http://reelnews.co.uk/sparks-mass-picket-at-crossrail-video/