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UNITE THE UNION has announced that plumbers, fitters, and welders that it represents on construction sites will proceed with industrial action. The union confirmed that talks with the Mechanical Engineering Building Services Contractors’ Association (MEBSCA) broke down this morning.
Unite has served notice that industrial action, which will consist of a full day of work stoppages, will occur on Friday 6 September, with pickets at sites around the country.
The union said that 90% of its members voted in favour of industrial action when balloted earlier this month.
The dispute centres around the payment of the first hour of ‘travel time’, which was originally cut “as a so-called ‘temporary measure’ following the 2008 financial crash”.
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said “MEBSCA employers must be in no doubt regarding workers’ determination to reverse this iniquitous cut. Unite is backing our members every step of the way”.
“Although this cut was meant to be reviewed after a year, that review never took place,” the statement said.
Unite said that a reversal of the austerity era cut would mean an increase in gross pay of up to 12.7% “at a time of ongoing cost-of-living pressures”.
However, MEBSCA said its members pay a travel allowance on top of pay and that they made an agreement with Unite in 2011, “which incorporated the first hour of travel into hourly rates”.
“This agreement had the effect of increasing the hourly rate which also resulted in a higher rate being paid for overtime and holidays.”
In response to this, Unite said that no such agreement exists, and that a “review is still outstanding in respect of this matter”.
“The ICTU Construction Industrial Committee has applied for an updated Construction Sectoral Employment Order, seeking incorporation of travel time in the Construction SEO – this has been rejected by the employer body (the Construction Industry Federation).
“This ongoing dispute, and the differing positions submitted to the Labour Court, is due to the fact that there is no agreement governing the application of travel time,” it said.
With reporting from David Mac Redmond.
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Terrifying but sadly all too predictable as temperatures rise. You’d hope this would wake a few of the deniers up as it’s more local than some of the countries people chauvinistically dismiss. But alas these people would still be posting their copy and paste, Trump n dumpster science support, while the fire or flood is on their doorstep.
@SerotoninWars: you do realize they’ve had wildfires all over the globe for centuries?
@Niall English: You do realise that they have been far worse in recent years on account of climate change?
@Niall English: You do realise that ever more parched woodlands catch fire ever more easily, which spreads ever more quickly?
@JOHN O CONNELL: You mean when there were only a few millions of people?
And vast areas of the planet were covered in forests?
Imagine that!
@JOHN O CONNELL: Those fires were caused by a collision with fragments of a comet. What is your point?
@JOHN O CONNELL: Younger Dryas
It must have all grown back, from being burnt the last few years
@P. V. Aglue: You think houses and factories grow back?
What did the Greeks ever do for us?
@Padraig O’Brien: The birthplace of western thinking.
@Padraig O’Brien: Plato, Aristotle Euclid’s geometry aid the foundations for European rationality and scientific inquiry, and influenced the development of European science and mathematics. The epics of Homer and the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles deeply influenced European literature; their Greek humanism, that emphasized individual dignity, profoundly affected the development of European and American literary traditions. The music of Ancient Greece, particularly the theoretical frameworks of harmonics developed by the likes of Pythagoras, laid the foundations of Western music theory. And the political ideas of Ancient Greece, particularly the concept of democracy as practised in Athens, have had a lasting impact on European politics and systems of government.
@David Jordan: I frequently reread an old school text book on ancient Greek history by Bury.
(Am reading it again at the moment.)
Fascinating.
@David Jordan: “The music of Ancient Greece, particularly the theoretical frameworks of harmonics developed by the likes of Pythagoras, laid the foundations of Western music theory”.
And then (c)rap came along and that all went out the window.
Here in Bulgaria the fires started in June and keep going. There is several at any given time, and once a fire is put down, another one starts in a different place. There are constant appeals for volunteers to help the fire service, who are exhausted. Turkey sent fire trucks to help, and the Chesch republic sent two planes. What seems to be missing is coordinated EU level approach to this – Southern Europe is burning, and will continue burning every summer. Did someone ask Ursula what the plan is?
@ Thesaltyurchin and David Jordan
Are ye too young to have seen Monty Python?
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