Strike Ballot To Take Off At Heathrow Terminal Five.Hundreds of construction workers at the prestigious new Terminal Five development at Heathrow Airport are to vote on strike action. This comes after they rejected an offer to increase their guaranteed bonus by 22p an hour instead of the [pounds sterling]1 they have demanded. The construction workers at Laing O'Rourke Laing O’Rourke plc is the largest privately owned construction firm in the UK. It has offices in the UK, Germany, India, Australia and United Arab Emirates, with over 23,000 employees worldwide. , who are members of the Transport and General Workers Union plus Ucatt and the GMB GMB (in Britain) General, Municipal and Boilermakers (Trade Union) , categorically rejected the latest offer at a mass meeting yesterday (Wednesday Wednesday: see week. 16th November November: see month. ). Afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. union leaders said the guaranteed bonus had not been reviewed for three years and it was about time it was. "The T5 project underpins the development of Heathrow airport. It is not unreasonable to properly reward the people who are building it, given that they come from far and wide to work there," said Alan Brkljac, T&G regional industrial organiser. "The bonus payments have not been reviewed for three years. [pounds sterling]1 an hour, which means less than [pounds sterling]50 a week, is a fair demand to a very profitable construction company working for a client whose profits have increased monthly on the back of rising passenger numbers. 22p an hour is simply not acceptable." The T&G represents a range of workers across the site including scaffolders, plant operatives, chargehands, concrete finishers A concrete finisher, also known as a cement mason, is a tradesman who works with concrete. The job entails placing, finishing, protecting and repairing concrete in engineering and construction projects. plus other craft workers as well as general labourers. Mr. Brkljac said the pay rates ranged from around [pounds sterling]20,000 to [pounds sterling]35,000 for the bulk of the T&G members. The postal ballot will be run independently of the T&G by the Electoral Reform Electoral reform projects seek to change the way that public desires are reflected in elections through electoral systems. Reform projects can include measures designed to reform political parties (typically changes to election laws); to redefine citizen eligibility to vote; to Balloting Services. A result is likely in early December paving the way for industrial action around Christmas if there is a 'yes' vote and no revised offer from Laing O'Rourke. Please Note: The views expressed by our contributors are not necessarily those of CJ Connect, Contract Journal or Mondaq Ltd. T&G London UNITED KINGDOM Click Here for related articles (c) Mondaq Ltd, 2006 - Tel. +44 (0)20 8544 8300 - http://www.cjconnect.com |
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