Queensferry Crossing workers strike deal in pay row

Dozens of workers are thought to have downed tools. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

DOZENS of workers on the Queensferry Crossing who downed tools in a dispute over Christmas payments have reached a deal with their bosses.

Some 50 staff employed by the construction consortium building the £1.4 billion bridge over the Forth were said to have confronted managers over shortfalls in their pay packets.

They are among about 1,200 people working on the new bridge.

The staff, mostly employed by Morrison Construction, all work in a marine yard in Rosyth which assembles components for the crossing, rather than on the bridge itself.

They took their dispute to the site offices of the Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) group, which is building the bridge for the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency.

Construction union Ucatt urgently sought a resolution, but some workers’ holiday pay problems dated back to the start of the year.

Negotiations took place and late yesterday a deal was reached with Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors.

Harry Frew, regional secretary for Ucatt, said: “Negotiations have been going on this afternoon and Ucatt has now reached a resolution with Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors and the company will now pay the workers involved an additional £500 to address the problem.”

Bosses were keen to stress the action has had no impact on the progress of the project, which is due to be completed by the end of next year.

FCBC project director Michael Martin said: “We have been concerned today at a holiday pay issue brought to our attention by some members of the workforce.

“We launched an immediate investigation to ensure the payments which were made are in line with recent changes.

“We will be providing the workforce with a detailed breakdown of their holiday pay calculation. This is a complex task and will take some time to complete on an individual, case-by-case basis.

“In the meantime, as a gesture of goodwill, we have agreed to make an interim payment to the workforce, and upon completion of individual breakdown analyses, this payment will be reconciled in the New Year.”

Earlier this week it was revealed that over a quarter of the bridge deck is now in place with a year to go before opening.

The operation to lift the 750-tonne deck sections into place began in September and 36 are now installed out of a total of 122.