BRITISH CONSTRUCTION JOBS

That this House is concerned about problems arising from the fact that many construction companies operating in the UK, especially in the energy sector and subsidiary companies sub-contracting to them, are declining to hire and in some cases refusing to consider the employment of British and local labour into their workforces; understands that the application of the EU Posted Workers Directive introduced to provide minimum protection for workers posted abroad is regularly cited by them as being to blame for this; believes instead that whilst it is clearly woefully inadequate to deal with present trends, it is being misinterpreted by many construction companies to their advantage; and calls on the Government to heed the call of the construction trades unions that a solution to current problems will only be found when a register of mandatory universally applicable collective agreements is established, which would end the exploitation and undercutting of workers in this and other industries in the UK and elsewhere throughout Europe.