UK Electricians’ struggle – A powerful end to a decade long fight

Electricians in the UK (often known as “Sparks”) have a long history of organisation and a defence of their economic interests and status of being a skilled trade. For many decades the Electricians union had a right‑wing leadership, and this was finally incorporated into the larger Unite Union.

For the last decade there had been attempts by contracting companies such as Balfour Beatty to introduce a new grade of semi‑skilled worker, paid about a third less and have scant training. The rationale was for this new semi‑skilled role would be running in of cables, and some connecting up of these cables. This was seen by rank-and-file electricians as not only a threat to their wage rates but also a threat to their own jobs. The fear was not only deskilling of the electricians jobs, but also the displacement / replacement of many of the existing workforce.

Balfour Beatty attempted to introduce this new semi‑skilled role of worker at the end of 2011 and this led to determined opposition from the electricians employed by them. Balfour Beatty operated on many construction sites and on the railway network. Over 80% of the electricians balloted voted against this proposal, being concerned that either they would either lose their job, or be expected to work for much less in their wage packet. The ballot result was for a declaration of an official strike.

Balfour Beatty reacted to the strike vote by threatening Court action. The Unite Union reacted by calling off the strike, but the electricians came out anyway. There were demonstrations in London including the headquarters of Balfour Beatty and another site in Victoria, which led to other workers coming out in support. There were also demonstrations in Glasgow which involved other sites. Further strikes and sympathy action took place in Grangemouth, Immingham and Hartlepool. These strikes and demonstrations were unofficial.

There was another ballot on strike action in February 2012 which led to a two‑thirds voting for strike action. While the opposition to the deskilling of the electricians role continued Balfour Beatty and other employers took the strike action issue to the High Court to have it overturned. The Court saw no reason to get involved in declaring the strike to be unlawful. The Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey welcomed the Court decision, looking for ways of resolving disputes around the negotiating table rather than in the Courts.

Another attempt at introducing deskilling role

Strikes broke out again this year when contractors, including Balfour Beatty, planned to introduce again a semi‑skilled electrical worker with just seven weeks of training – this was to be known as electrical support operative. The resistance of the existing skilled electricians was determined and well‑organised. Attempts to introduce the semi‑skilled role at the new nuclear power station at Hinckley C led to picketing at the site at the end of March. A Balfour Beatty site in Bromborough, Wirral, was consistently picketed from March 24th until April 7th. The offices of companies involved in the construction plans, such as EDF, were occupied.

There were also demonstrations over this deskilling role in London, Glasgow and in the North East of England.

By early June the plans for the electrical deskilling role with Balfour Beatty, NG Bailey and the Hinckley Point site was officially abandoned. The employers agreed to revert to the industry standard Joint Industry Board for training standards of skilled workers. Unite Union officials were more than happy to ensure the smooth running of the construction projects and would be cheaper than taking on a prolonged fight with rank-and-file electricians, who would have little option but to engage in an intensive round of picketing and spreading the strikes. Whether the strikes were official or unofficial would have meant little to the striking electricians, as they would have been able to rely on the support of fellow workers, by either not crossing picket line and providing money at site collections.

Final Round in Gateshead

An Amazon fulfilment centre is being constructed in Gateshead as part of the Amazon distribution network. News circulated that a contractor was using unskilled labour to perform electrical work, for which they were not trained for and probably had little understanding of what they were doing, raising legitimate health and safety issues. On June 16th rank-and-file electricians from outside the site picketed the Amazon site. About 60 electricians employed on the site refused to cross the picket line and went home. A few days later at least thirty workers were sacked for taking part in this solidarity strike action. They were notified by txt on mobile phones to ensure all their belongings were removed before the end of their working shift that working day.

As of Monday 21st June the sacked workers announced they would picket the site until their jobs were reinstated. There appeared to be attempts to recruit other electricians to replace those picketing outside the site. That appears to have come to nothing.

On Wednesday 23rd June the contractors held a hurried meeting with Unite at which it was agreed that those sacked workers could return to work if they wanted to and would be reinstated starting the following day. An email from a recruitment agency had informed the workers that the matter had been resolved as the site is nearing completion. The recruitment agency stated that matters had been taken out of their hands the previous Friday but now the matter had been settled.

The electricians had won this round because of their determination and class solidarity. The use of a picket line of electricians not employed at the site provided a way of fighting back against the internal threats to the workers employed on the site. The picket line provided the means and excuse for strike action by all the electricians on the site. This was a way of achieving unity in struggle that was not possible because of the lack of organisation in the site. The tactic of external picketing of the site was a way of bringing the dispute to a head, and to be resolved by the contractor backing down or the strike possibly escalating out of control. The employers and Unite union was quick in backing off and resolving the issue. These tactics by the pickets were well thought out and controlled and not some sort of “Wild Cat” action, which was not necessary or possible by the balance of forces on this site.