Socialist Appeal - Sparks fly at start of Electricians pay dispute

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Sparks fly at start of Electricians pay dispute

By Siteworker
Monday, 29 August 2011
200 electricians protested outside Balfour Beatty's Blacklfriars Station construction project last Wednesday in the first unofficial action of the electricians pay dispute. The dispute has been sparked after eight major electrical contractors announced their intention to withdraw from the Joint Industry Board (JIB) national industry agreement in March 2012. They are Bailey Building Services, Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, Tommy Clarke, Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, MJN Colston, SES and SPIE Matthew Hall. The employers propose 3 new grades for electicians: metalworker £10.50 per hour, Wiring £12, Terminating £14. The current electricains JIB rate is £16.25p per hour across the board. For the worst hit this amounts to a 35% pay cut. Meanwhile, the chief executive of Balfour Beatty, one of the contractors, had given himself an 8% pay rise last year. The last time the electrical contractors attempted to cut wages by de-skilling the electrical trade in 1999 it provoked a series of coordinated strikes on the Jubilee Line, Royal Opera House, Pfizers and power generation projects across the UK. The construction workers had a clear sense of who they were fighting against: “It’s not the Polish or Portuguese workers who are driving down your wages, but the industry bosses”, said one of the leaders of the protest, drawing a huge cheer from the crowd. One protesting electrician said: “There is a lot of anger about the threat to our pay and plans to deskill the industry. “Electricians won’t stand for it and this is the first demonstration and you can see by the turn out that people are angry. “This will only get bigger and we will be protesting at major sites across the country until the employers change their minds.” The mood of the protesters was confident, and there was a clear sense of urgency to set up a campaign to stop the pay cuts from happening. The protest is driven by rank and file workers who are impatient with their unions. One demonstrator added: “This is just the start and today is about laying down a marker saying we are not simply going to accept changes to our pay and conditions. “This is a grass roots protest which will only get stronger as more people realise the threat to their livelihood.” This was only the start of the campaign: On 31 August construction workers will assemble at the Westfield building site in Stratford, and campaigners in the North West are planning protests as well. The unofficial action is being coordinated by union activists around the Site Worker magazine For more info contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Alan Keys

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