Wembley stadium workers take re-instatement fight to TUC Conference

Steelworkers
who were sacked from the Wembley stadium re-building project will today take
their fight for re-instatement to the TUC Conference in Brighton.

More
than 240 men lost their jobs last month in a contractual dispute and have since
held a peaceful picket outside the stadium.

The
GMB union, which represents some of the men, has tabled a motion to the
conference highlighting the situation.

The
men worked for engineering company Cleveland Bridge (CBUK), which built the
stadium’s Triumphant Arch, and was due to work on the remainder of the site
until the project ended in 2006.

But
CBUK left the site in a dispute with main contractor Multiplex at the end of
July.

The
workers were transferred to replacement contractor Hollandia believing they were doing so under the
‘blue book’ system – the industry’s employment rules, which guarantee terms and
conditions.

By Daniel Thomas