Government calls in ACAS to mediate wildcat strikes
As we covered earlier on the site, there have been a number of wildcat strikes across the UK in support of UK workers who have been effectively barred from employment opportunities with overseas companies trading in the UK. These employment opportunities consist of a number of engineering and construction projects which were awarded to overseas contractors who have brought in their own labour at the expense of UK workers.
This effective barring of UK workers applying for jobs with the companies in question would appear to be illegal under "normal employment law" but apparently EU regulations allow the import of foreign workers within the EU. Unions have now entered the fray and Gordon Brown has called in the conciliation service ACAS to mediate in the dispute. However, tonight UK workers do not appear to be in the mood to step down and the battle looks as though it has only just started.
Many observers suggest that the ongoing friction has been on the cards for some time with the UK government seemingly too quick to sign up to various EU employment directives which effectively put UK workers in a disadvantaged position. Quite what will happen in the short to medium term remains to be seen but Gordon Brown faces possibly his largest challenge to date.
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