T5 travel deal rejected

The Major Projects Agreement at Heathrow Terminal Five has been seriously jeopardised after m&e workers on the site threw out a decision to award them £7 per day travel allowance.

A travel allowance was demanded by m&e union Amicus after a £25 a day payment was awarded to building and civil engineering workers in response to increased travelling time to and around the UK’s largest construction project.

A forum of employers and union representatives met under the terms of the project’s M&E Major Projects Agreement and heard statements from both T5 employers and worker representatives before arriving at the £7 per day decision.

The forum’s decision was the final stage of the MPA dispute resolution procedure and effectively the last option open under the Agreement. The operatives refusal to accept it, along with their insistence that they should be awarded £25 per day, throws the MPA into disarray and signals a significant breakdown in relations between client BAA, employers and unions, who all signed up to the Agreement.

Steve Brawley, ECA employment relations adviser and a member of the Terminal Five joint council, said: “This is a highly sensitive issue and one which people seem to have misinterpreted. The panel’s decision of £7 per day is just that: it is not an offer from the employers. Having heard submissions from both sides, the decision is meant to end the matter, but people are now taking political positions and the whole thing threatens to get completely out of hand.”

Spokesperson for BAA, Antonia Kimberley, said: “We have no comment other than to say we are seeking guidance from the MPA Forum as to the next step because it is their decision that members of the m&e workforce have rejected, not ours.”