LONDON, January 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite Joint General secretary Derek Simpson said: Unite has raised the growing problem of UK workers being excluded from important engineering and construction projects at the highest levels of Government, including with the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Unite's National Executive (the governing body of the union) has today called for a national protest in Westminster. Unite is consulting its lawyers on the potential illegality of some employer's practices in the engineering and construction industries. The union is doing everything in its power to ensure that employers end this immoral, potentially illegal and politically dangerous practice of excluding UK workers from some construction projects.

The government must act urgently and insist that companies involved in engineering and construction projects give UK workers equal opportunities to build Britain's infrastructure.

Notes to Editors

Unite is opposed to the practice of some employers in the engineering and construction industries explicitly refusing to consider applications for work from UK Labour.

The government has invested billions of pounds into the economy to support jobs during this recession. This strategy depends on employers playing their part. Apart from the Olympics, engineering construction is the only sector of the construction industry with a visible workload going forward.

To contact the Unite press office please call: +44-(0)20-7420-8916 / 8914 / 8928 / 8938.