Construction workers fighting to defend T & Cs across UK

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Not much new to add so far, but here's a statement from the national construction rank and file: There Will Be Fireworks
And the official Unite statement: Unite statement: Hinkley Point C and Threatened Deskilling of Electricians

If anyone uses Telegram, there's a Telegram channel for the dispute you can join here: Rank & File Say No 2 ESO

 

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Result! Bosses starting to back down already: Hinkley bosses halt plans to “deskill” electricians

Statement from the rank and file here:

 

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Now with Union News write-up - basically the same as above but in text format: Win! Hinkley bosses back down in deskilling dispute, sparks promise future action

 

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The sparks absolutely do not fuck about:

Rank & File Sparks Target NG Baileys and Balfour Beatty

Rank & File Sparks Target NG Baileys and Balfour Beatty Across the UK The Construction Rank & File campaign against deskilling has ramped up...

siteworker.blogspot.com

 

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Hopefully there'll be a fuller report coming soon, but there was definitely a spark presence at Canary Wharf:



Cardiff:



and Salford this morning:



If you're mobile and free on Wednesday mornings, would definitely suggest getting in touch to see if there's anything happening in your area, it's an important dispute and doesn't seem like it's dying down.

 

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Video of this week's action is up:

 

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Another short write-up, doesn't add a huge amount to the video above: Rank and file workers to disrupt UK construction sites

 

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Seemingly stepping up the frequency, out at a Balfour Beatty site at Man Met Uni today:

 

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Stepping up the frequency of my posts in this thread lol

 

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Stepping up the frequency of my posts in this thread lol

to the left
to the right
step it up step it up it's alright

 

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Keeping up the pressure this morning, stuff going on in London, the Wirral, Motherwell, County Durham and I think Cardiff as well:

 

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New video up of today's actions:

 

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Manchester Town Hall this morning:

 

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I imagine there should be another Reel News highlights video along soon, but in the meantime, here's another video from Manchester last week:


And some of this morning's actions:


London:


Hinkley Point:


Swansea:


Cardiff:


Merseyside:


Newcastle:

 

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Video from this morning at Hinkley Point:

 

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This week's video:


Sparks were also out in Cardiff:


And Swansea:

 

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Over the Water, Sparks Fly

Featured in Issue XI – April 2021 From the 24th March to the 7th April, up to thirty electricians (sparks) have gathered weekly outside Balfour Beatty’s in Bromborough, Wirral. Passing cars h…

liverpoolanarchist.wordpress.com

 

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Northwest rank and file out in Salford yesterday:

 

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Balfour Beatty site occupied in London this morning:

 

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Longer video of this morning's occupation:

 

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Photos from this week's actions in the Northwest:

 

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Sparks were out again in Cardiff, Leeds, Merseyside and London this morning:

 

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Leeds sparks made the local news: Anger outside Leeds engineering firm in 'deskilling' row

 

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A few pictures up from Whitby and Manchester this morning:

 

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Cardiff sparks blockaded a NG Baileys site this morning:








I've heard that Balfour Beatty have now pretty much completely caved in and are wanting to agree a joint statement with Unite. NG Bailey are still taking a more hardline approach, but Balfour backing down means that all the protests and disruption will be solely targeted at their sites and offices from now on. So we'll see how much they like that, I suppose.

 

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Video of this morning's action in London:

Over the past two weeks, sparks have continued to target NG Baileys over their dangerous deskilling plans at Hinkley Point C. The other contractor, Balfour Beatty, seem to be wobbling after promising to issue a statement - but two weeks later that statement still hasn't appeared. Given their history of lying (particularly over blacklisting), the two week break the sparks have given them from targeted action won't be lasting much longer. Meanwhile, the prime target is now Land Securities offices, for whom NG Baileys have the maintenance contract. Unless Land Securities take that contract away from NG Baileys immediately - or convince them to stop their deskilling plans - they will find their offices disrupted every week from now on.

Manchester Town Hall, another Baileys site, was also targeted for the second week in a row, not seen any pics/videos of that yet though.

Also related, people might be interested in this video from an Irish construction workers' page:

We are delighted to be joined by Dave Smith, author of "Blacklisted!" He's a long time workers rights activist and grassroots organiser of construction workers in the UK construction industry.
Sean Day joined us too. He's another veteran campaigner from Reel News, a UK-based group, that cover worker strikes and protests from the perspective of those involved.
Together with BWKYR's Andrew and Gus they discuss grassroots organisation and some of the many memorable protests they were involved in, along with the Builder's Crack fanzine.
We would like to thank both Sean and Dave for taking the time to talk to us for the May Day weekend 2021.

 

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Northwest sparks out today, braving the rain to visit Cheshire Oaks shopping village, which has a maintenance contract with Baileys:

 

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Brief clip from this morning in London:

 

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Few more pictures from today: