Foreign firms win work thanks to fewer tea breaks

Italian construction workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery were more productive than their UK counterparts because they took fewer tea breaks and put on their work gear before clocking-on.

Conciliation body Acas issued its report today into the wildcat strikes over foreign labour which spread from Lindsey last month to other engineering construction sites.

Acas found that refinery owner Total and main contractor Jacobs had not broken any European employment laws by awarding a specialist subcontract to Italian firm Irem using imported foreign labour.

But the move caused fury among unions who claimed skilled UK workers were being frozen-out from engineering construction contracts.

The industry is governed by the Naeci "blue book" agreement which lays down pay and conditions for workers.

Acas discovered that Irem was abiding by the Naeci agreement but changes in some working practices made Italian workers more cost effective.

The report states: "The unions felt that the shift pattern Irem proposed to use on the work was inconsistent with the Naeci agreement.

"Specifically, they were concerned that there was no provision in the contract with Irem for its workers to take paid tea breaks which was a condition that had to be met by UK companies applying for the tender.

"The unions also felt it was unfair that Irem workers would be preparing for their shift before travelling to the site, unlike other workers whose time spent putting on protective clothing etc was counted as part of their shift.

"This would enable Irem to make a bid on the basis of their workers being more productive. Given that the contract was being awarded on a lump sum basis of a fixed number of hours in which to complete the job the above was felt by the unions to give Irem an unfair competitive advantage."

A government review of productivity and skills in the engineering construction sector was also confirmed today.

Skills Secretary John Denham said: "We know there are major projects out there which will offer great opportunities for construction and engineering firms, like nuclear new build, rail and renewable energy projects.

"We need to ensure that the government and industry do whatever it takes to build productivity and improve skills to help put British firms in the best place to compete for contracts and reap the benefits of innovation."