Peace talks in Wembley Stadium dispute

Talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over the sacking of workers on the prestigious Wembley Stadium project will be held today, raising hopes that the bitter dispute can be resolved.

More than 200 construction workers, mainly from the north-east of England, claimed they were sacked twice after switching to a Dutch company from Teesside firm Cleveland Bridge after it ended its involvement in the building.

Some of the workers travelled to the TUC Congress in Brighton yesterday and claimed that work on the Wembley site had virtually ground to a halt since the dispute flared a month ago.

Multiplex, which is in overall charge of the project, strenuously denied the claim.

Paul Kenny of the GMB said the workers had been treated “disgracefully”, and he hit out at the British government for keeping in place employment laws which he said made it easy to sack workers.

Shop steward Graham Caster said: “These jobs are ours and we are going nowhere until we get them back.”

The workers have been picketing Wembley for the past few weeks and claim that workers from Holland brought in to replace them have walked out in support.

Multiplex said it could guarantee that the Wembley project would finish on time in 2006.

“It is categorically not behind schedule, in fact it is ahead of schedule. The GMB must not be allowed to turn what is a local dispute between itself and a subcontractor into a national issue.”