T5 electricians reject extra £7-a-day travel allowance

Electricians at Heathrow's Terminal 5 have today (Thursday) voted against an offer of an extra £7-a-day in travelling allowances from client BAA.

The employers’ offer was made last month after the electricians’ union Amicus won a landmark dispute hearing under the Major Projects Agreement (MPA), which BAA had signed up to in an effort to avoid any disputes

Amicus members had demanded £25-a-day to cover the cost of travelling time to and from the job and to put them on parity with the civil engineering workers on site who brokered a similar deal with Laing O’Rourke two years ago.

However, relations between workers and their employer have now reached an all time low after just nine workers out of 265 voted to accept the £7-a-day offer.

The MPA disputes panel, made up of three union officials and three employer representatives, had already ruled that the electricians were entitled to compensation for travelling time. The question remained as to how much.

Site sources had predicted that the offer would get rejected. “This is not enough and the employers know it," said one. "It will have to come a lot closer to £25-a-day before the men take it seriously. The employer is playing with fire. If it doesn’t pay up it can wave goodbye to the MPA and that will be a lot more expensive for it.”

Industry observers are expecting increasing industrial unrest on the T5 site as M&E numbers rise.

One said: “The civils employers gave away too much in the early stages of the job and now the m&e workers are expecting enhanced terms too. There are only around 300 of them on site now but that will soon build up to 2500 and then things will really start to happen.”