HUNDREDS of angry electricians halted the traffic for 20 minutes outside St Paul’s Cathedral in central London yesterday morning, during their latest demonstration against the 35 per cent wage-cutting, union-busting onslaught by a ‘cartel’ of seven major contractors.
They held a 6.30am rally at the Tate Modern, before marching across the Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s, then along to the Balfour Beatty building site at Blackfriars Bridge.
The ‘sparks’ are demanding that Unite calls an immediate strike ballot to defeat the attack, and at a meeting at Conway Hall on Tuesday night, heard Unite Assistant General Secretary Gail Cartmail tell them: ‘Read my lips, we will hold a ballot as soon as we can.’
Unite London Construction Branch Secretary, Steve Kelly told the rally at the Tate: ‘December 7th is the cut off point. If there’s still no ballot by then we’ve got to get a walk out.
‘The ballot doesn’t seem to be happening. Last night the Unite officials seemed to be going round and round in circles.’
Vince Passfield, Unite Construction Organiser, said: ‘You need to keep these protests going. We’ll keep giving support where we can.
‘I have to be careful how I choose my words. There was a lot of discussion last night. There will be an announcement, and a positive announcement about a ballot next Tuesday.’
At the Blackfriars Station site, Mick Dooley, Ucatt General Secretary candidate, said: ‘Balfour Beatty are the main contractor. Let’s shut Balfour Beatty down.
‘There’s no point in the sparks waging this fight on their own. We’ll keep fighting until we get a ballot and then we’ll have an official picket here.
‘The employers have been trying to smash the sparks and they are not going to get away with it.’
Harry Cowap, Unite Regional Official, said: ‘Here’s a message to all inside the Blackfriars project – there’s a 35 per cent wage cut coming down and we’re not going to accept it.’
Vince Passfield said: ‘We have to ramp it up to defeat this outrageous attack on our terms and conditions.’
Unite member John Corkerry told News Line: ‘They are still dragging their heels on the ballot. Let’s hope on Tuesday we hear a good announcement. We need a few of these jobs to come out.’
Locked-out workers from Sotheby’s in New York were cheered at the meeting on Tuesday night and the rally at the Tate yesterday.
Dorian Malloy, Teamsters 814, told the sparks: ‘I assure you you have the support of the Teamsters.
Sotheby’s gave us one day to sign a contract with 100 changes and we’ve been locked out since 29th July.’
Malloy invited them to join the Teamsters demonstration outside Sotheby’s Auction House, 34-35, New Bond Street in central London at 6.30pm this evening.
