Italian firm CMN alleged to have undercut UK pay at Staythorpe plant

British workers at a power plant project have been undercut by a subcontractor paying Italian labourers over £1,000 less on average per week than the agreed rate, reigniting the " British jobs for British workers " dispute. A pay audit revealed that Italian firm CMN, one of the subcontractors employed by engineering firm Alstom to build a power station at Staythorpe in the east Midlands, was defying a national pay deal agreed between Unite the union and the industry. Unite has called for CMN's works contract to be terminated after the discrepancies came to light. Last year, months of "wildcat" action took place over the use of foreign contractors at Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire. The prime minister, Gordon Brown, had promised unions to train "British workers for British jobs" prompting anger when it emerged that many construction firms were employing cheaper foreign labour rather British workers. The audit, requested by unions, revealed that between April 2009 and December 2009, an average of 17 labourers a month were being paid an average of €1,300 a month less than the agreed rate. Unite fears that other subcontractors also could be ignoring the pay agreement. At peak times, 2,000 workers are employed at the Staythorpe site, many of them by subcontractors and many of them from overseas. Unite's assistant general secretary, Les Bayliss said: "The underpayment of these workers is outrageous. We have demanded that the workers are paid back in full. These revelations are proof that construction workers have genuine concerns which the industry has consistently tried to deny existed. Some workers at Staythorpe were losing out on thousands of pounds in pay that they were rightly owed. Unite will not allow employers to get away with breaking agreements and underpaying its workers, regardless of nationality." An estimated £200bn worth of investment in new power stations, power lines and wind farms is needed over the next decade and unions are anxious that British workers benefit, particularly with unemployment rising as a result of the recession. But the free movement of labour within the European Union has made it easier for employers to undercut British workers by bringing in cheaper foreign labour.