Hollandia reaches agreement at Wembley

Dutch steelwork contractor Hollandia and the construction unions moved quickly last week to ensure there will be no repeat of the damaging disputes at Wembley that saw Cleveland Bridge steelworkers kicked off the £757m project.
A series of meetings between Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge, unions GMB and Amicus, and Fast Track and Hollandia resulted in all parties agreeing to set up a new independent body, the Project Joint Council.
Aimed specifically at the Wembley project, it will allow stewards and local officials to meet with Hollandia on "a structured basis".
Representatives from the unions and Hollandia will initially meet on a fortnightly, then monthly basis, although meetings can be called at any time. Issues to be discussed will include: health and safety; worker welfare; and production performance.
As a result, workers on site are now employed under a supplemental project agreement with the support of the National Joint Council for the Engineering Construction Industry, the body that governs the industry's blue book agreement.
GMB regional organiser Tom Kelly also revealed that the unions are to take Hollandia and Fast Track to an employment tribunal to try to get compensation for the sacked steelworkers.
Next Monday, 150 of the 200 Cleveland Bridge workers who were sacked by Hollandia will return to the site. The remainder are set to join them under the "phased return agreement".