UCATT calls for more site protection

UCATT calls for more site protection

Construction union UCATT has vowed to keep the pressure on government over blacklisting and bogus self-employment. Delegates at the union's conference this week were told that the two issues were the scourge of the industry, reports the Morning Star. The union was critical of the blacklisting regulations that took effect in March because they failed to outlaw the 'despicable' practice of blacklisting. UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie said: 'The regulations are so weak that they do not stamp out blacklisting once and for all. The government listened to those who had been conducting the blacklisting more than it did us.' While the union had failed to have the regulations tightened, he said there were positives in that blacklisting firm The Consulting Association had been shut down and anti-blacklisting legislation was now on the statute books. The union also welcomed proposals in a recent government consultation document that would deem all self-employed construction workers to be employees unless they supplied their own materials, own plant or supplied other workers. An estimated 400,000 workers are registered as falsely self-employed, often as a way of firms keeping down their employers' national insurance liabilities.

Morning Star.