Model union motion
Put this motion to your student union AGM or council, or your trade union branch
THIS UNION NOTES
-Balfour Beatty was found liable for the Hatfield rail disaster in 2000, where four members of the public died and over a hundred were injured. The judge in the case lamented the fact that Balfour Beatty executives could not be successfully prosecuted under existing corporate manslaughter laws.
-Balfour Beatty has been repeatedly found guilty of breaking health and safety legislation which has resulted in the death of both company employees and members of the public.
-Balfour Beatty management has been discovered using a ‘blacklist’ to prevent over 3000 trade-unionists and left-wingers from working for their company, consigning them to a life of precarious work.
-Balfour Beatty has repeatedly been found guilty of corruption and fraud, both in the United Kingdom and overseas. In 2008 the company was fined over £2 million for financial irregularities while working in Egypt
-Balfour Beatty is one of seven companies threatening to pull out of the Joint Industrial Board on December 7th, which would see conditions for employees worsened and the pay for electricians reduced by 35%.
THIS UNION BELIEVES
-That Balfour Beatty is not an ethical company and has repeatedly proved that it puts profit before the health and safety of both members of the public and its employees.
-That blacklisting has prevented employees’ representatives from being able to stand up to management attempts to cut corners on health and safety in the name of a speedy completion of construction projects.
-That the typical fines given to Balfour Beatty do not realistically discourage management from ending this culture within the company.
THIS UNION RESOLVES
-To not use Balfour Beatty or its subsidiaries to carry out construction projects until the company publishes its blacklist, publicly pledges to stop using it, and compensates those who have lost out because of it. We will also not use the company until they return to the Joint Industrial Board’s terms and conditions for the construction industry.
-To lobby the university to do the same and actively oppose the presence of Balfour Beatty on campus.
-To work with other student unions, trade unions and campaign groups to raise awareness of these issues, to pressure Balfour Beatty to change its’ employment and safety practices, and to pressure the government to introduce tougher measures for corporate violations of health and safety legislation.
Offices and contracts
We need to hit Balfour where it hurts: join us in protests and pickets of their offices, phone bombardments, emails – whatever you can. But remember, it’s big business and the government which fund this company and award them contracts. So don’t just target Balfour offices – their clients are fair game too.
Balfour Offices
North West HQ: Cavendish House, Cross Street, Sale, Cheshire M33 7BU
Selby Road, Swillington Common, Leeds, West Yorkshire , LS15 4LG
BB Rail: 111 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 2HY
BB Engineering Services: Greenwich Centre Business Park, 53 Norman Road, London , SE10 9QF
Balfour contracts
London Bridge and Blackfriars station, they were awarded £50m to work alongside Costain and network rail. They will provide detailed design, installation, testing and commissioning of track work. Balfour Beatty, Costain and Invensys will form the London Bridge Area Partnership.
Contact Invensys: (0)20 3155 1200
Contact Costain: 01628 842444 info@costain.com
Whitelee Wind Farm, Located at Eaglesham Moor to the south of Glasgow. For the extension, BBES will be working with John Sisk & Son and Road bridge provide the electrical infrastructure works including the substation and control building services, the supply and installation of switchgear and the installation of around 400,000m of power and control cabling.
Contact John Sisk & Son: 01727 875551
Chairman: LiamNagle@sisk.co.uk
Managing Director: PaulWilson@sisk.co.uk
Director/Secretary: PaulHickey@sisk.co.uk
Director – Commercial: JohnDennehy@sisk.co.uk
Birmingham New Street Station, BB has been awarded £16m to refurbish and reconstruct platforms 2 – 11 as part of the Birmingham Gateway Project, which is backed by Birmingham City Council, department of transport, network rail, advantage west midlands and centro. The work will be carried out by two Balfour Beatty companies, Birse Rail and Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering
Birmingham City Council Tel: 0121 303 1111 email: contact@birmingham.gov.uk, Department for Transport: 020 7944 8300
Advantage West Midlands 0121 380 3500
Centro 0121 214 7214
Balfour Beatty has reached financial close on a £48m PPP scheme for North West Fire & Rescue Services. The 25-year concession involves the design, construction, funding and provision of facilities management for 16 community fire stations, of which seven are in Merseyside, five in Cumbria, and four in Lancashire. The stations will be built on a mixture of new and existing sites in a range of locations from rural stations with retained crews, to busy inner-city stations with full-time crews. Construction of five of the fire stations will begin in February 2011, with all construction work to be completed by 2013.
M4/M5 Motorway Construction Scheme, Balfour Beatty has secured the M4/M5 managed motorways scheme near Bristol with a bid of £77.6m
Balfour Beatty was announced as main contractor for two major roads and bridges packages by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). Balfour Beatty will be building the rail over-bridge package as well as the main stadium area bridges. These combined include three land bridges, three footbridges and four footbridges. Skanska has won the contract for civils in the north of the Olympic Parkand Nuttall has won the contract for civils in the south. The Olympic Park North package includes 5km of roads, two land bridges, one road bridge and two underpasses. The Olympic Park south includes 3km of loop roads, four road bridges, one footbridge and one underpass.
Contact Olympic Delivery Authority Tel: 020 3 2012 000
Balfour Beatty has been awarded a contract by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission Limited, a subsidiary of SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy), to replace the electricity transmission line between Beauly and Wharry Burn, 20km north of Denny. The contract, valued at approximately £290 million, is a significant part of the overall Beauly-Denny scheme and involves the project development, design, material provision and installation of a 200km double circuit 400kV overhead electricity transmission line and associated civil and access works, including construction of temporary access roads and associated improvements to some private roads.
Contact Scottish and Southern Energy Tel: 0845 300 2141
Beauly Denny Tel: 01324 696 462 scott.mackenzie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
They also have contract over local authority roads in North Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, Essex, the North West of Scotland, Royal Windsor & Maidenhead, Warwickshire, Wokingham, Westminster and West Sussex.
