Unite has blamed a recent spate of serious accidents on the HS2 tunnelling and track laying project in London, on a refusal to allow the union to speak to workers and a resulting dearth of safety…Read more…
End union busting at HS2
Unite construction members staged a significant protest at outside the HS2 Skanska-Costain-Strabag Joint Venture site on Friday (August 6) over the consortium’s flouting of the HS2 agreement by not…Read more…
HS2 Euston protest
A joint venture company consisting of Skanska-Costain-Strabag that is seriously hindering legitimate trade union access to construction workers building the Euston tunnels of the HS2 railway have…Read more…
Scrapping of electrician deskilling plans welcomed
Unite has welcomed the announcement by contractors Balfour Beatty and NG Bailey that they remain committed to the Joint Industry Board (JIB) agreement and the training of fully qualified…Read more…
‘Landmark agreement’
Construction unions Unite and GMB have secured the first access agreement for the massive HS2 development. The agreement has been signed between the unions and the Mace/Dragados joint venture company…Read more…
Secret shame of Crossrail’s way to boost profits
Unite has learned that secret changes to the way procurement rules operate on the heavily delayed Crossrail project mean that contractors are able to ignore previous rules and boost their profits by…Read more…
Safeguards needed on hi-tech work monitoring
Unite has warned that safeguards must be fully implemented in workplaces to protect workers from the ‘unintended consequences’ of hi-tech monitoring following the promotion of this latest equipment…Read more…
Keeping those afloat from going adrift
Unite warned today (March 1) that plans by the London Resort – the Disney style theme park due to be built in the Kent estuary – to house 2,000 construction workers at Tilbury in Essex, requires full…Read more…
Cruise ship accommodation plan warning
Unite has warned that plans by the London Resort, the Disney style theme park due to be built in the Kent estuary, to house 2,000 construction workers at Tilbury in Essex, requires full consultation,…Read more…
Crossrail investigation call
Unite is demanding that Crossrail takes immediate action to ensure that taxpayers money stops being misused and workers denied basic employment rights, on the troubled public sector rail project in…Read more…
Redundancy rights win
Unite has secured an important victory over the union’s right to be notified of redundancies following a ruling regarding workers employed at the Stanlow Oil Refinery in Cheshire. In April 2020, the…Read more…
HS2 social distancing helmets warning
Unite has warned that hi tech hard hats which sound a warning when workers come within two metres of each other, should not be used as a disciplinary tool but as an education device. Unite issued its…Read more…
Portsmouth council ‘recklessly putting workers and tenants at risk’
Portsmouth council has been accused of needlessly exposing its council housing tenants and outsourced workers to potential exposure to Covid-19. Unite has become increasingly alarmed that workers at…Read more…
‘Recipe for tragedy’
Unite has warned that forcing construction workers in London onto bikes is potentially dangerous. Unite issued its warning after Transport for London (TfL) issued travel advice for construction…Read more…
Make travel to work safer call
Unite has long called on the government to take action to ensure those who are still travelling to work are safe amid the pandemic. Unite national officer Jerry Swain told LBC this week (January 19)…Read more…
Brand Energy scaffolders strike
The British Steel site in Scunthorpe faces disruption next week as scaffolders at the plant employed by contractor Brand Energy begin strike action in a dispute over pay. The 50 plus scaffolders, who…Read more…
New Unite construction guide ‘invaluable tool’
Unite, the UK’s construction union, has launched a comprehensive construction guide to help ensure the safety of construction workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The guide titled Construction…Read more…
‘Scrooge is alive and well’
Unite has discovered that workers operating on the flagship HS2 project at the Old Oak Common site, are being systematically denied the correct pay rates, resulting in them losing hundreds of pounds…Read more…
Stricter measures needed to combat Covid on construction sites
Unite is calling for the creation of separate site operating procedures to cover both indoor and outdoor construction work following revelations by Professor Calum Semple that confirm Unite’s belief…Read more…
Carillion latest
The announcement today (November 13) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog that senior executives of Carillion ‘mislead’ the markets and acted ‘recklessly’ should result in the guilty…Read more…