FORMER employees of trade union BATU have been given until 10am today to vacate the union’s Dublin headquarters before officials go to the courts to seek their removal.

Members of a construction industry trade union who blockaded their headquarters in a row with management warned today they would escalate their protest unless union bosses enter talks.

Members of the Builders union BATU are continuing a sit-in at the union's offices in Dublin this morning.

THE Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU) is to have its funds frozen as part of a probe following the dismissal of two long-term officials.

FOR one of the first times in the history of the trade union movement, one union picketed another in the centre of Dublin yesterday.

AMID pay talks and perceived “races to the bottom” in industry standards and pay, one would expect the trade union movement to be showing a “united” front these days.

Workers involved in the renovation of Dublin's Westbury Hotel are staging a protest this morning against alleged exploitation.

Trade unions say employers are still are not complying with pension provisions in place for construction workers.

GREEDY sub-contractors are fuelling tensions by hiring cheap, foreign labour, an outspoken TD claimed yesterday.

CORK’S city manager vowed last night to root out rogue contractors working on public projects who were found to be flouting agreed rates and conditions.

The problem of widespread underpayment of migrant workers in the building industry is the main focus of union BATU's annual conference today.

THE country’s trade unions are expected to ratify the latest social partnership agreement later today, clearing the way for pay increases of 10% over 27 months for more than 500,000 workers.

PICKETS may continue to be placed at building sites operated by Collen Construction Ltd, campaign leader Richard Boyd Barrett warned last night.

WHATEVER the rights and wrongs of the case involving the jailing of three Dublin building workers, it has inevitably focused the spotlight on mounting concerns about the competing rights of employers and employees in the Irish workplace.

Builders are demonstrating outside the offices of the National Roads Authority in Dublin today to protest against the treatment of migrant workers in the construction sector.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney was yesterday accused of failing to protect migrant workers at Turkish construction giant Gama despite complaints against the firm during her time as Enterprise Minister.

The rights of migrant workers are being abused on building sites, according to the trade union BATU.

The Building and Allied Trades Union has called for tighter regulations governing employment on construction sites in an effort to improve safety for workers.

THE country’s largest single pension scheme is to be reviewed by the Pensions Board following concerns that thousands of construction firms are flouting the law, depriving workers of death and sickness benefits.

THE NEW national pay deal cleared its final hurdle yesterday as the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) voted by a clear majority to accept the 5.5% wage rise on offer.

The Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU) has called for the introduction of a corporate manslaughter as a criminal offence in an effort to improve safety on construction sites.

The National Implementation Body (NIB) is to investigate how to achieve better industrial relations in the building trade, particularly among brick and block-laying workers.

The Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU) has accused the Government of failing to take realistic action to prevent deaths and injuries on Irish building sites.

IN common with other developed economies, Ireland has seen the movement of transnational capital across the globe.

The general secretary of the Building and Allied Trades Union has called on the Government to introduce legislation which ensures that builders who breach safety legislation are harshly punished.

THE Government may introduce a crime of corporate manslaughter for construction firms that continue to flout safety laws.

INCREASED safety measures on building sites have been demanded by trade unions after accidents claimed the lives of three construction workers in one week, bringing the total number of construction deaths this year to 20.

A FATAL accident yesterday evening on a construction site, the third this week, has rocked the industry.

BUILDING company Collen Construction is preparing to take legal action against BATU, the bricklayers union, for alleged intimidation and injury against employees at a number of its sites.

The Building and Allied Trades Union has urged the Government to implement a penalty points system for builders who breach health and safety regulations.

JUST where is Tom Costello, managing director, John Sisk & Son, coming from when he takes a swipe at the Building and Allied Trades Union (Irish Examiner, Oct 4).

Union members marching in protest over statutory redundancies heard speakers criticise the employers' body IBEC.

THE head of one of the country’s top five construction companies says excessive union action has the potential to be a disaster for the industry.

EMPLOYERS were last night accused of bullying workers with threats of disciplinary action and lawsuits if a planned nationwide protest goes ahead on October 4.

AN Post has denied union claims that a backlog of post was mounting as a result of the postmasters dispute.

Fine Gael has warned that major infrastructural development is under threat from the construction workers' strikes.

The construction industry is facing the prospect of severe disruption over the coming weeks as members of the Building and Allied Trade Union embark on industrial action.