The lead company building the Queensferry Crossing has widened an investigation into allegations of low pay on the flagship £1.4 billion project, MSPs have heard.
Labour has called for a pay audit of the scheme after construction union UCATT claimed one sub-contractor paid workers £4 below the agreed minimum rates.
Forth Replacement Crossing project director David Climie said lead contractor the Forth Crossing Bridge Company (FCBC) has investigated the claims and found no evidence, but decided to instigate a random investigation of other sub-contractors.
He told Holyrood's Rural Connectivity and Transport Committee on Wednesday: "There are allegations about a specific contractor, a Portuguese subcontractor, they have 29 people working on site.
"As a result of that, the union wrote to FCBC with their allegations.
"FCBC duly contacted that company and this company sent a letter immediately confirming they take full import of the rates and import of all the rules and regulations, and that information was sent off back to the union in a letter on December 1.
"The union subsequently wrote to Keith Brown the Cabinet Secretary and asked him to investigate further, and as a result of that FCBC has actually taken payslips from some of the individuals involved to do an actual check and determine what they are being paid.
"All those investigations to date show all the rates of pay are at or above the correct rates and there are no incorrect deductions are being made.
"FCBC decided to widen that further and selected another five sub contractors at random and is now checking them as well, wrote to them all and asked to them to produce evidence as well.
"That evidence is currently still being gathered but to date absolutely nothing has been found to back up these allegations regarding low pay."
UCATT has claimed joiners for Portuguese sub-contractor Sosia Ltd were being paid hourly rates of £7.67 and labourers were receiving £6.32 below the Construction Joint Industry Council agreement of minimum rates of £11.61 and £8.73 respectively.
The claims were the latest issue with workers on the bridge after a Home Office investigation last month led to allegations seven workers from India had breached immigration rules.
Mr Climie told MSPs the workers had been removed from the project and he believes they had been charged.
He said they worked for a second-tier subcontractor from FCBC and stressed checking employment eligibility rests with the immediate employer, not the lead contractor.
He added that the bridge is on course for completion in May and more details would be revealed in the new year about plans for an official opening.
He told MSPs: "The May date is a realistic date and there always is a risk of weather attached to that."
UCATT regional secretary Steve Dillon said: "We want a thorough investigation done and not for a company just to turn round and say they are paying the right rates.
"We're due to meet Keith Brown at the parliament tomorrow and we'll be asking him to widen the inquiry and get the evidence."
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