MINISTERS are facing calls to investigate reports that foreign workers are being paid just £50 a day for construction work at a flagship green energy project backed by the Scottish Government.
The GMB union has written to Scotland's business Minister Paul Wheelhouse asking for a probe into the allegations at the Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).
Polish, Czech, Croatian and Portuguese workers have complained about being paid just £50 for a full day's work by contractors building the waste incinerator for recycling giant Viridor.
The rate for an eight-hour day would see the workers earning less than the £7.50 UK statutory minimum wage for over 25s.
Work carried out at the site by those on the £50 rate includes turbine installation, welding and fitting, as well as jobs linked to steel and piping, the GMB says.
The Scottish Government granted planning permission for the plant and previously said it "sits alongside our internationally ambitious targets as part of a suite of measures to make Scotland a greener, cleaner place to live”.
Gary Cook, GMB Scotland organiser, said ministers had to investigate the allegations of low pay at the Dunbar site because of their backing for it.
He said: "The union will be pursuing Scottish Government Ministers and new council administrations to investigate allegations of sub-supply work being carried out by non-UK labour for as little as £50 a day on the Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility.
"Do we want our green energy projects to be opportunities for workers in Scotland that provide a decent wage and secure employment or is the bottom line all that matters?”
Last night, a spokesman for the Dunbar ERF owner, Viridor, said it had asked its contractors to carry out a review to "reaffirm our collective commitment to fair employment”.
The recycling giant said it had consulted the GMB, as well as the Unite trade union about the move.
The Viridor spokesman said: “Both Viridor and our construction partners have worked closely with their construction supply chains and with trade unions. As such the approach by GMB is disappointing."
The spokesman added: "We have already confirmed to GMB and Unite that we have instructed an independent supply chain review to reaffirm our collective commitment to fair employment.”
In response to the GMB a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Scotland’s public procurement regulations and statutory guidelines establish rules to require that, where appropriate, fair work practices are considered as part of the procurement process.
"Individual public bodies are responsible for compliance with those rules and the contracts that they award.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here