Last updated at 15:13, Thursday, 17 May 2012

FURNESS workers are being treated like second-class citizens, a union has claimed.

Painters working for a subcontractor at Barrow’s shipyard are being paid £3 an hour less than their colleagues from the North East, according to the regional officer for Unite, John Fallows.

And he warned that the union would consider strike action if the dispute wasn’t resolved.

At the centre of the issue are around 70 workers, employed by North East industrial painting firm, Barrier, which is subcontracted to do the work by the Yorkshire-based Redhall Group. Mr Fallows claims that of the 70 workers, those from the Furness area are paid £9 an hour – while North East workers are paid £12 an hour, as well as travel expenses and an accommodation allowance.

The union officer said: “This is blatant exploitation of North West employment and North West workers. These workers do exactly the same job. You cannot pay some workers £9 an hour and others £12 an hour. Barrier think they can get away with paying local workers less because we have high unemployment.”

Submarine painting work was previously undertaken by shipyard employees but was out-sourced around 10 years ago. Mr Fallows has also called on BAE Systems to intervene, although he stressed the issue was between Barrier and its staff.

He said: “I have a meeting with BAE next Wednesday to discuss this. I think BAE could put some pressure on Barrier to ensure all workers are paid and treated the same.”

Mr Fallows also claimed he was aware of more than 30 local industrial painters who were looking for work.

He added: “This is about making sure everyone is treated fairly. But right now, local workers are being treated like second class citizens.

“Barrier say they are not doing anything legally wrong, but this is a moral and ethical issue, not a legal issue.”

The union official warned if the dispute was not resolved his members would be balloted on strike action. And he claimed that 5,000 directly-employed shipyard workers may support their colleagues and may choose not to cross a picket line.

Mr Fallows said: “Even in-house workers say this is wrong. If nothing comes of these discussions, I will have to ballot the workers and they could go on strike.’’

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock said: “I am surprised by the suggestion that this contractor to BAE has to pay people from outside Furness more because it cannot find enough qualified local industrial painters. There are lots of skilled people here looking for work and it is important they are not overlooked.”

The Evening Mail made several attempts to contact Barrier but had received no response from the company before going to print.

First published at 13:22, Thursday, 17 May 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk