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UCATT To Have Major Presence in North West on Workers Memorial Day
Construction union UCATT will have a major presence at a series of events throughout North West England to mark this year’s International Workers Memorial Day on Wednesday 28th April.
UCATT are organising a memorial service to be held at the UCATT memorial, Hunter Street, Liverpool, L3. Speakers at the event will include John Thompson UCATT President, Bill Parry, UCATT Regional Council Chairman, Steve Rotherham, Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Liverpool Walton and a representative of the Health and Safety Executive.
Wednesday 28th April
UCATT Memorial
Hunter Street
Liverpool
L3
UCATT will also be playing an active role in the Workers Memorial Day event organised by the North West TUC and regional trade unions in Manchester. The event will begin with a meeting for safety reps between 9.30 and 11.15am at the Mechanic Institute. Followed by a march to the Peace Gardens. There will be a one minute silence in the Peace Gardens followed by speeches.
A Workers Memorial Day event will be held in Preston on Saturday 1st May. The event held in the City Centre will include a service attended by multi-faith leaders, trade unionists and the Mayor of Preston. There will then be a march and wreath laying at the Cotton Workers Monument.
Construction is the most dangerous industry in Britain. Last year there were 53 construction fatalities, including 5 in North West England.
George Guy, Regional Secretary of UCATT North West, said: “Every workplace death is an individual tragedy. Workers Memorial Day is when workers come together to remember colleagues who were killed and injured at work and is an opportunity for all workers to renew demands for safer working conditions.”
UCATT are asking workers who are unable to attend any of the official events to hold a two-minute silence at 12pm in memory of their fellow workers. Many of the main construction contractors in the North West have agreed to this request.
UCATT are campaigning for the Government commissioned report into construction fatalities by Rita Donaghy, One Death is Too Many to be implemented in its entirety. The report’s 29 recommendations to improve safety include extending the Gangmasters Act to construction and the introduction of statutory director’s duties.
This year’s events are especially important, as it is the first year that the Government has officially recognised Workers Memorial Day.
UCATT represents 125,000 members employed in the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
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Manchester Site Dangers Show Conservative Safety Plans Are Fatally Flawed
The North West Region of construction union UCATT are calling on the Conservatives to rethink their plans to privatise construction safety, after a recent blitz of sites in Greater Manchester, revealed over a quarter were unsafe.
If elected the Conservative Party have announced that construction companies deemed “low risk” would be entitled to commission a private safety audit. Once the audit had been completed, Health and Safety Executive inspectors would be entirely barred from all of a company’s sites, unless there was an emergency.
If the plans came into force, it would make it virtually impossible for the HSE to conduct sudden widespread unannounced visits, as it would be impossible to ascertain which sites were covered by a safety audit and therefore off limits and which sites were not.
George Guy, Regional Secretary for UCATT North West, said: “The fact that a quarter of construction sites were deemed unsafe in Greater Manchester, demonstrates just what a dangerous nonsense the Conservative plans are. If the Conservatives had their way, rather than being able to check that sites were safe, or close them down if they were dangerous, the HSE would be barred from setting foot on them unless an accident occurred and a worker was maimed or killed.”
The HSE issued a total of 56 enforcement notices on 42 sites in the Greater Manchester area, many of the sites were considered so dangerous that work had to be stopped immediately. In total the HSE visited 163 construction sites over two days in the Manchester, Salford and Trafford area.
Construction is the most dangerous industry in Britain. Last year (2008/9) 54 workers were killed at work.
For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235
UCATT represents 125,000 members employed in the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
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Unions to Campaign Against Flintshire Council Housing Sell-Off
Local Government unions led by construction union UCATT will mount a vigorous campaign in opposition to plans by Flintshire County Council to sell off its housing stock.
The Independent run council is beginning the process of selling off its council stock and intends to ballot tenants on the issue later this year. The council currently has 8,000 housing units and there are over 3,200 applicants on the council’s housing waiting list.
Unions are opposed to moves to sell off Flintshire’s council housing as previous sell-offs in other areas have resulted in increased rents, cuts in tenants rights and massive decreases in repair and improvement programmes.
Ren Davies, UCATT regional official for North Wales, said: “The sell-off of Flintshire council housing will be bad news for existing tenants and will be disastrous for families needing a home in the future. A sell-off will result in housing services being cut and waiting lists increasing.”
UCATT and the other local government unions (UNISON, UNITE and GMB) believe that Flintshire Council’s decision to push ahead with the sale of its council housing stock is perverse. The decision has come at a time when the Wales Assembly has recently launched a new social housing strategy and is moving away from a policy of housing stock transfer.
Unions are opposed to moves to sell off Flintshire’s council housing as previous sell-offs have resulted in increased rents, cuts in tenants rights and serious decreases in repair and improvement programmes.
UCATT are also contacting new Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, who it is understood is somewhat sceptical of housing stock transfers.
Mr Davies added: “Rather than looking to sell off its housing stock, Flintshire council should be forward looking and be building new council properties to meet local housing need.”
For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235
UCATT represents 125,000 members employed in the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
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UCATT Warns That a Slight Decrease in Construction Deaths in the North West Must Not Lead to Complacency on Safety
Construction union UCATT have warned that a slight reduction in construction deaths in the North West of England must not lead to a complacent attitude regarding safety.
Research undertaken by UCATT has discovered that there were five construction deaths in the North West in 2008/9. In 2007/8 there were six construction workers killed in the region.
The number of construction deaths in the United Kingdom fell from 72 in 2007/8 to 53 in 2008/9, a decrease of 26 per cent. The decline was principally due to the recession, which has led to a steep drop in construction output and resulted in A large number of construction workers being laid off.
Construction remains the most dangerous industry in Britain. The industry is highly casualised. Many workers do not have contracts of employment, regularly move between employers and/or are bogusly self-employed. In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the number of workers being supplied to construction companies through employment agencies and gangmasters.
George Guy, Regional Secretary for UCATT’s North West Region, said: “The reduction in construction deaths in the region should be welcomed. However five deaths remains five too many. It is essential that everyone involved in the construction industry does not allow themselves to become complacent when it comes to safety.”
Further analysis of the national data on fatalities shows that the most likely cause of death remains falls. In 2008/9 there were 21 deaths caused by falls, 40% of all deaths. The second highest number of deaths were caused by people being hit by a moving or falling object, this accounted for 5 deaths, 9% of the overall total.