Unions express concern over abuse of New Deal

The Government's New Deal is to be closely monitored by construction trade unions amid mounting concern over the exploitation and substitution of workers.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has advised trade unions to ensure that employers do not abuse the £3.5bn welfare-to-work programme. The TUC urges unions to take a key role in making the New Deal a success. The guidelines state: "Unions can help stop unscrupulous employers from making existing workers redundant to create New Deal vacancies."

George Henderson, National Secretary of the Trade and General Workers Union, told CJ: "When the New Deal was first launched, in construction, the employers and the government failed to consult unions. We prophesied the likelihood of certain dangers, namely exploitation of workers and substitution, we received assurances that this would not happen."

The TUC suggests that in many workplaces there will be grey areas and uncertainties around the issue of possible substitution, which they claim could be exacerbated if the UK were to go into another recession.

Also included in the guide is a joint agreement drawn up between the TUC and the Employment Service about the role of union representatives in raising complaints at a local level about abuse of the New Deal. This was recently ratified by the general secretary of the TUC, John Monks, and the chief executive of the Employment Service, Leigh Lewis.

The guide sets out the key objectives for trade union involvement:

l Encouraging employers to use the New Deal, wherever possible, to expand their workforces by creating new jobs which are designed to last beyond the subsidy period.

l Recruiting and representing New Deal workers and ensuring that they have the same employment rights as all other employees.

l Monitoring the quality of New Deal jobs and the training provided.

l Enabling New Deal employees to register complaints about exploitative practices and/or the quality of the job and training provided.