British workers protest reignites

Unemployed construction workers today cranked up their campaign for fair access to jobs with a fresh protest outside the Isle of Grain power station in Kent.

This is the latest in several angry protests over claims jobs are going to workers from overseas rather than from the UK.

The union Unite says Alstom, which has been contracted to build a new energy plant at Grain, is denying skilled workers the chance to apply for work.

It claims Alstom's Polish sub-contractors are refusing to consider applications from UK labourers for the estimated 450 jobs available over the course of the project.

A statement released by Unite said: "At the Isle of Grain, two sub-contractors have refused to consider applications for work from UK-based labour. Unite believes the two sub-contractors will employ 450 workers over the lifetime of the project. Alstom has been contracted by E.ON to build the power station.

The union is calling on the government to make firms applying for contracts on public projects sign up to Corporate Social Responsibility agreements which commit to fair access for UK Labour.

Alstom said it had about 15 sub-contractors working at Grain, the overwhelming majority of which are British, with only two being non-UK companies

A spokesman for Alstom said the firm understood the concerns and would be employing many British workers at the site.

He said: "At the Isle of Grain construction site British workers will carry out two-thirds of the work from start to finish. The claim that we discriminate against British workers is simply not true.

"Alstom is not refusing to consider applications from local workers for jobs at its power station construction site in Grain where it has appointed a number of subcontractors to build the facility."

He added: "These subcontractors, the majority of which are UK companies, have appointed their own teams to carry out various parts of the construction work. This is completely normal, legal and standard practice across the industry."

Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite, said: "Unemployed construction workers are demonstrating today to demand fairness, not favours.

"No European worker should be barred from applying for a British job and absolutely no British worker should be barred from applying for a British job."