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Workers in race row over lost jobs Oct 4 2005




By Kirsti Adair, Daily Post


MORE than 20 Merseyside pipefitters have accused their employers of racial
discrimination after claiming they were made redundant and replaced by
Polish workers.

Union representatives are now pursuing industrial action against Irish
contractors Laurence Mechanical Services.

The men had been working on the Quinn Glass development in Ellesmere Port
for several months when, on April 1, they were told there was no more work
for them.



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But just three days later, they claim the contractors took on and inducted
around 20 new Polish staff.


The workers believe the firm took the decision to get rid of them after they
demanded a contract of employment. They claim Polish workers were employed
instead of the British ones because they were cheaper.


Pipefitter Glen Chesters, 43, from Liverpool, said:" We were all told on
April 1 that the work was finished. Just a few weeks earlier managers had
told us there was enough work for a year.


"Then, the next Tuesday, a new group of Polish workers arrived. We had been
taken on without a contract of employment and initially got the union
involved when we weren't given one.


"We were working on a pay as you earn basis. The Polish workers were paid £8
an hour whereas we were paid £12.


"We believe they were given the work that 23 of us would have been
finishing."


Joe Rusk, 59, who has been a site foreman and worked in the business for
more than 40 years, said: "I have never experienced anything like this. We
were being told there was nothing more for us and the next thing we know
more workers are being taken on. Everybody feels they have been treated very
badly."


Union representatives say they are meeting with the contractors at Liverpool
employment tribunal on November 1.


Amicus representative John Fallows said: "We believe these workers have had
their legal rights infringed in various ways. "Firstly, they should have
been given a contract of employment outlining their terms and conditions.
They never received this.


"They were told there was no work and then they find out Polish workers were
taken on. The work was still there.


" We will be meeting with management of the contractors in Liverpool next
month and believe we have a case for an employment tribunal."


Irish-based Quinn Glass said they could not comment on the issue.


A spokesman for contractors Laurence Mechanical Services who are based in
Cavan, said: "We will not be making any comment at all about this."