Olympic Games: Construction Shambles on Cards for London, Says Union

Britain's biggest construction union has warned that the building of the Olympic Park and venues for the 2012 games will be hit with similar delays, wildcat strikes and spiraling costs to those that plagued Wembley Stadium.

The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians says it has reached deadlock in talks with the Olympic Delivery Authority over the former's insistence that contractors on Europe's biggest post-war construction project should use directly-employed labor. The ODA has not specified this point in its contract and been dragging its feet on the issue

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt, which represents 125,000 members, says the employment model to build the Olympics should follow the example of Heathrow's Terminal 5, which was built on time and on budget using direct employment.

He warns the alternative will be a fragmented, self-employed workforce which would compromise safety - and fail to deliver the promised legacy of creating skills and jobs for local people. More than 9,000 workers will be required on the Stratford site in 2010 at the peak of construction for the games.

"Direct employment for the Olympics is entirely possible just as it was for Heathrow Terminal 5. If the ODA goes ahead and insists on opening the floodgates for bogus self-employed labor then the results will be disastrous," he said.

Ucatt says it is not against genuinely self-employed workers but claims "bogus" self-employment is rampant in the construction industry, meaning workers do not get proper holidays, sick pay and employment rights.

The £750m Wembley project was delivered more than 12 months behind schedule and was beset by industrial disputes. Ucatt says the lack of directly employed labor meant that on several occasions illegal workers were found to be working in the stadium.

Ritchie said: "Past experience demonstrates what happens when you use bogus self-employed workers on major projects. Deaths and serious injuries increase, costs spiral out of control, projects are finished late and work is beset by wildcat strikes.

"The ideals of the Olympics must not fall prey to gangmasters, unscrupulous employment agencies and other fly-by-night organizations out to make a quick buck at the expense of construction workers - and who will make profits on the hard graft of vulnerable exploited migrant workers."

The union says at least 13 construction workers died during building on the Athens Olympic site in 2004, which relied on casualised self-employed workers. There was one fatality during the construction of Sydney for 2000, which used a direct employment model.

The ODA said it still hoped to reach agreement with the unions in the next few weeks. A spokesman said: "We are committed to ensuring high standards of employment and we are currently in positive negotiations with construction unions to finalize a memorandum of agreement. It is our intention that the memorandum will include an agreement on maximizing direct employment."

He said site safety was of paramount importance - and the ODA's procurement policy made it "explicitly clear that we will evaluate a company's record of working with trade unions when considering tenders".