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UCATT plays an active part in the political sphere, working with a number of other trade unions, public bodies and political parties to improve the lot of everyone working in our industry. This page tells you about some of our current activity, as well as offering an archive of past stories.
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Print

Monday, 23 July 2007

UCATT Slams Spineless Press Body

Construction union UCATT have slammed the Press Complaint Body as “spineless” and “celebrity obsessed” after learning that a serious complaint against a national newspaper has been rejected.

On December 11 2006 the Daily Express ran a front page story titled “Sacked Because we are British” which was sub headed “Our workers get the push so Poles can take their jobs.” The story alleged that British construction workers employed at the Manchester Royal Infirmary site had been sacked and replaced with Polish workers who were prepared to work for lower wages.

The story was untrue in that although Polish workers had been employed on the site, British workers had not been “placed on the dole” due to their hiring. Both British and Polish workers were paid the same rates of pay, which were in fact far higher than industry minimum’s.

UCATT immediately complained to the PPC on the grounds that the story broke its code under Section 1iii) “the article does not concern itself with fact” and that it also broke Section 12 of the code “the press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference.

After a process lasting over 7 months, during which time the PCC lost UCATT’s original complaint, a ruling was received last week. This rejected the complaint under section 1 of the code as the “newspaper was entitled to investigate such an allegation”. The PCC did not even examine the complaint under its section 12 clause concerning discrimination, citing than the clause was designed to “protect the individual and did not apply to groups of people”.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “This ruling reveals that the PCC is a celebrity obsessed old boys club, made up of the editors of national newspapers, who are able to decide if they have broken the rules they are meant to defend. The PCC is a spineless institution obsessed with celebrities and not whether the rubbish sometimes printed in newspapers fuels tensions in society.”

Peter Hill the editor of the Daily Express is a member of the PCC.