Great Britain: possibility of more social tension in construction

The construction industry is likely to be beset by a further period of instability and conflict following the defeat of a group of leading employers to break away from one the major sectoral agreements as a result of unofficial industrial action (see our dispatch No. 120119). At the first meeting of the Construction Industry Joint Council pay talks at the end of May, the employers declined to make a pay offer for the 500,000 workers covered by the agreement. Citing severe contraction in order books, the employers stated their members could not afford any pay rise at all this year.