JAMESON, Angela. Union anger at workers’ pay gap. Gran Bretaña, Times Online, Enero 19, 2010. Recuperado el: 15 de febrero de 2010. Disponible en: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/europe/article6993012. ece

Union anger at Staythorpe power station workers’ pay gap Angela Jameson, Industrial Correspondent

From The Times January 19, 2010

Italian construction workers building a power station in the have been paid on average €1,300 (£1,140) a month less than their British colleagues, an audit of wages at the site has found.

Workers building Staythorpe, a gas-fired station for RWE at Newark in , received significantly less in wages than British workers from April to December last year, according to an audit conducted at the insistence of the GMB and Unite unions.

The pay gap between British and Italian workers uncovered by the unions is likely to inflame tensions further in the construction industry. Official strike action organised by GMB and Unite, which would have affected 30,000 workers involved in the building and maintenance of power stations and oil refineries, was called off in November.

Throughout last year, a series of unofficial strikes, including action at Staythorpe, spread across construction sites. These were sparked by fears that foreign sub-contractors were undercutting British ones by bringing their own workers in and paying them less.

The controversy came at a time when many construction workers were jobless amid a collapse in the housing market. Unions argued that Britons were not being given the chance to apply for jobs, while immigrant labour was being exploited.

At the Lindsey oil refinery, in North Lincolnshire, almost 650 workers were dismissed for taking part in a wildcat strike in protest at the use of Italian and Portuguese workers. The dispute was settled when more than 100 jobs on a £200 million upgrade were made available for British workers.

At the time of last year’s strikes at Staythorpe, Alstom, the French infrastructure group that is the main contractor at Staythorpe, and Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, denied that foreign workers were being paid less than their British counterparts. The GMB is demanding that Lord Mandelson return to the House of Lords to correct a statement he made on the issue last year. CMN, the Italian sub-contractor at Staythorpe, has agreed to bring its workers in line with the appropriate pay grade and to make back-payments to correct the shortfall.

Union leaders are angry that contractors that stick to national agreements may be disadvantaged in winning construction work in the future, just when Britain is on the brink of a big programme of building power stations.

Andy Fletcher, the GMB’s regional officer, said that the audit’s findings would exacerbate a “very tense” situation on the Staythorpe site. The union is already balloting its members for strike action in a row over pay and the redundancy process.