Gerry Carroll met with representatives of Unite the Union today, regarding the potential loss of hundreds of jobs following the liquidation of Carillion. Speaking after the meeting Gerry said:
“Our first concern is obviously for the staff at Carillion, most of whom don’t know whether they will continue to be employed or not. We need urgent action to ensure these jobs are brought in-house by the Housing Executive and all necessary work carried out for Housing Executive tenants. I made clear to Unite today that People Before Profit will support any action – including industrial or protest action – taken to achieve this.”
“This whole saga raises questions about the role of the private sector in the delivery of public services. Despite Carillion crumbling financially, huge bonuses continued to be paid out, while the standard of work floundered because of corner cutting. Now workers could be out on their ear and bosses who lined their pockets have wiped their hands of the situation.”
“Carillion were known for their abysmal record on workers’ rights. They were involved in illegal blacklisting – putting workers deemed unsavoury, usually union members and shop stewards, on a list shared with other industrial companies as a warning not to employ them.”
“Despite their workers’ rights record and despite their huge debts, the banks continued to ply the company with money and the Tory party allowed it to control aspects of the public service. This becomes more nefarious when we discover that a Carillion chairman is a Tory advisor and the banks want the government to bail out the company.”
“Clearly serious questions about cronyism and incompetence need to be asked of all involved. And importantly, moves need to be made now to ensure this kind of racketeering isn’t allowed to happen in future. We are calling for an end to a privatisation agenda which pays large public money to private companies to make substantial profits.”
