Electricians protest target Balfour Beatty site in Newcastle University

03 November Around 40 turned up to leaflet the Balfour site at Newcastle University yesterday. The mood of the sparks on the protest was buoyant. 

Alongside Unite flags, there were placards, including one pointing out that Balfour Beatty's chief executive is paid £979,994 yet they are wanting to get away with paying electricians £10 an hour. As one of the electricians pointed out, 'If they get away with this there'll be no presents for our kids this Christmas.'

Two university security guards turned up to tell us that under section 46 of the education act we were not allowed to protest and must leave – the protesters politely refused.   The security guards  were asked to bring the registrar of the university to explain why they were using a company that was intent on destroying the wages, terms and conditions of construction workers, but this request was denied.

In the Balfour office above us managers could be seen taking furtive looks at the protest. On the megaphone one of the protesters told Balfour to 'Stick the cut in wages where the sun don't shine!'

As workers began to go onto the site the were leafleted and the protesting electricians explained, 'Balfour will tell you it's just these horrible sparks making trouble.  But next it'll be horrible plumbers, then horrible brickies'. The majority of those going into work were sympathetic with the protesters.

Just as we were about to leave two police arrived. They were emphatic that, 'We're not here to stop you, just to facilitate a peaceful protest.' The police listened as construction workers talked about how government spending cuts were impacting on the police.

All the protesters at Newcastle understand the need to continue the unofficial action, in order to put pressure on Unite. As one of them said, 'even getting a few flags of the union was like pulling teeth.'