Union leader Frank Westerman becomes employer adviser

The former leader of electricians in London has joined shopping centre giant Westfield after leaving the Unite union.

Frank Westerman is now working as an industrial relations consultant for the firm, which has just completed the White City centre and is working on the £1.5bn Stratford City development next to the London 2012 Olympic site,

Westerman agreed an early retirement package with the union last month and was offered a part-time position with Westfield soon after.

He is now advising employers following a 27-year career with the trade unions.

One industrial relations expert said: “Frank has always had a good relationship with the lads on site but the employers also know that he was the man to get things sorted out so this is a natural move for him.”

Westerman has been involved on a string of high-profile jobs including representing M&E workers on the Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) and Heathrow’s T5.

The expert said: “T5 will go down in history as the best pay and conditions ever for workers and the JLE would have ground to a complete standstill if he hadn’t acted as a buffer between the employers and the more militant factions of the union.”

Westerman became an official at the old T&G union in 1981 before joining the electricians’ union 10 years later.

His first major site was Kier’s Gatwick North terminal before he oversaw civils work on Balfour Beatty’s M25 Surrey section.

He then went on to represent M&E workers and steel erectors at Canary Wharf, the Millennium Dome, Royal Opera House, JLE and T5.