Corby signs charter over conditions for construction workers

Cllr Tom Beattie, leader of Corby Councilm and Unite regional secretary for the East Midlands, Paresh Patel signed the Unite union charter at a ceremony at the Corby Cube today (Monday).

The charter commits to working with Unite in order to achieve the highest standards in respect of direct employment status, health and safety, standards of work, apprenticeship training and the implementation of appropriate nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment.

The Charter will cover important local authority construction projects including the council’s ambitious house building programme.

Unite regional secretary for the East Midlands, Paresh Patel, said: “It’s great news for Corby’s construction workers that the council is on their side.

“The council is making a significant commitment to construction workers at sites under local authority control.

“Unite’s Construction Charter will help local workers to operate in a safe environment on construction sites.

“The charter also ensures that workers will be directly employed and that they can raise health and safety issues without fear.”

Cllr Tom Beattie, leader of Corby Council, said: “We are very pleased to be signing up to Unite union’s Construction Charter.

“Corby is one of the fastest growing places in the country and with our ambition to double our population by 2030 it is important to ensure that we do all we can to work with construction companies that meet these high standards for their workers.”

A previous version of this story said that it was Corby Council’s ambition to double their population by 2020 based on a statement from the authority. The council has since clarified it is their ambition to double their population by 2030.