JOBLESS BUILDERS PICKET POWER PLANT OVER FOREIGN LABOUR USE

Protestors block entrance to Newport site and urge workers across the country to strike

Unemployed construction workers have gathered at Uskmouth in Newport to protest against the use of foreign labour on the site of a new gas-fired power station

Around 100 members of the Unite and GMB unions are holding the demonstration, the second at the site in three weeks, in a bid to pressure employers to use greater numbers of local staff

Protesters are reported to have been blocking the entrance to the construction site and text messages have been sent to workers across the UK encouraging them to take part

The demonstration follows eleventh-hour attempts on Friday to halt strikes at seven other power stations across the country

Workers have been balloted at:

• •BP in Grangemouth
• •Ineos in Grangemouth
• •Sellafield
• •Shell UK Stanlow
• •Staythorpe RWE in Nottinghamshire
• •Chevron at Pembroke
• •Aberthaw in South Glamorgan

The £400 Uskmouth plant is being built for Severn Energy and is due to open in 2010

Source: Building