Workers plan Olympic picket as nationwide demos mooted

Construction workers are planning to picket the London Olympics as part of ongoing protests against the use of foreign labour.

Workers have staged a series of demonstrations against imported labour at engineering construction sites across the country.

ContractJournal.com understands that the unofficial campaign is now set to spread with high-profile general building jobs like the 2012 site in Stratford targeted.

Industry activists are due to meet in Sheffield on Saturday to discuss plans for an unofficial day of action over domestic workers being denied jobs on site.

Unite member Phil Willis said: "The talk is of an unofficial day of action and the Olympics will be a possible target because it is such a high-profile job.

"It is all about raising awareness of this campaign."

Another source added: "This is a fight for the engineering construction sector, but staging a protest at the Olympics will generate a lot of publicity for the cause.

"There have been issues with foreign labour at the Olympics."

An Olympic Delivery Authority spokesman said: "We are committed to fair employment standards and positive industrial relations on the Olympic Park.

"We make extensive efforts to help local people access training and employment on the Olympic Park and the workforce reflects the diversity of the local area and London as a whole. Currently more than 25% of the workforce is local residents and over 70% is British or Irish."

Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson led hundreds of unemployed construction workers during a march on the Staythorpe power station on Tuesday. A similar event also took place at the Grain Power Station in Kent in a call for more local workers to be employed at the sites.

CJ understands that the engineering employers' trade body - the ECIA - is considering legal action against the trade unions over the protests. The association is also believed to be threatening to pull out of the latest planned round of pay talks for the industry.