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Press Release

City rally to fight for fair access to local construction jobs

19 March 2009

When: 10.00 am, Saturday 21st March 2009

Where: Myrtle Parade/Bedford Street, Liverpool (see below)

Hundreds of unemployed construction workers from across the north west will rally in Liverpool city centre on Saturday 21st March calling for fair access to jobs on UK engineering and construction projects.

Unite is leading the fight to stop the growing problem of UK workers being refused work from important engineering and construction projects in the UK. The union believes there should be a level playing field for workers who wish to apply for work on UK construction contracts. It also calls for overseas workers to be paid agreed UK rates.

Unite has organised a demonstration as part of its ongoing campaign: "UK workers want fair access to UK construction projects". Speakers at the rally will include Unite national officer, Tommy Hardacre, along with Unite regional secretary, Kevin Coyne.

Ahead of the rally, Unite national officer, Tommy Hardacre, said: "We are calling on all construction workers to get involved in this rally so we can send a powerful message to employers that as a union we will not stand by and let rogue employers exclude UK workers from applying for jobs to build British power stations. Neither will we keep quiet when employers exploit workers regardless of their nationality and attack the terms and conditions of our members.

"Without the protection of our national agreements, workers will continue to be exploited on these sites. We need to protect these agreements and it is time the government set the standards for all workers in the construction industry."

Unite is calling on the government to insist that companies applying for contracts on public infrastructure projects to sign up to Corporate Social Responsibility agreements which commit to fair access for UK labour.

Last month a deal was reached at Lindsey oil refinery offering more than 100 new jobs for UK workers. The Isle of Grain and Staythorpe have been the focus of demonstrations by workers refused access to work at the power stations. Unite is organising a further demonstration at the Isle of Grain power station on March 24th.



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