AS protestors prepare to take more action over worries about staff pay and conditions at a £250m energy site, company bossses have responded to their claims.

The Unite union says a demonstration will be held outside Sita Sembcorp UK’s waste-to-energy plant, in Wilton, near Redcar, later this week.

It comes as Unite claim Sita is refusing to respond to its requests for information, including updates on a man who needed hospital treatment for what The Northern Echo understands was a hand injury.

It has also alleged calls to see contractor numbers and wages, and the opportunity to take an interpreter on site for foreign staff, have been refused.

However, Sita have strenuously denied the claims, and have issued a detailed statement, produced here in full.

It said:

Contractor details and worker remuneration

"Continued unfounded allegations about the employment of cheap foreign labour, or workers’ terms and conditions, at the project site do nothing to change the fact that all workers, irrespective of their nationality, have rates of pay equivalent to or higher than each of the unions’ relevant national agreements.

"There is no indication that any of the workers on site are dissatisfied with their pay and conditions or that any site workers have been involved in the union’s protests.

"In previous discussions, the unions have stated that they would be satisfied if the principal contractors responsible for delivering this project were able to confirm that they were paying in accordance with national agreements.

"This assurance has been provided and the trade unions were issued with a list of sub-contractors working on the project, along with their contact details, in January.

"It is a fact virtually all of the people working on the civil engineering aspects of the project are UK nationals.

"Workers on site from within the wider European Union are largely employed by companies carrying out work of a specialist nature that no UK companies are able to undertake.

"This includes design/build, assembly and commissioning of boilers, energy from waste turbines and flue gas treatment.

"The employees of these companies have specialist expertise and move from country to country depending on where their employer secures contracts."

Trade union access to workers

"Agreement was reached with unions and contractors in February to allow union access to the site to discuss pay and working conditions with staff.

"Our agreement with the unions was that interpreters would be provided by our principal contractor, which was felt to be the most practical way forward since they are readily available on site.

"All workers on site were informed of the trade union access visits and it was up to individuals to decide if they wanted to speak to the trade union’s or not.

"The event was promoted through flyers distributed in the site canteens and placed on noticeboards. These leaflets included the name of the trade unions attending and name of the full-time official.

"Claims by the trade unions that individuals were somehow discouraged from speaking with them is hugely disappointing, given the large amount of time and effort that went into organising and promoting, what was, a genuine opportunity for the unions to meet the workforce.

"The fact that very few people chose to speak to the unions while they were there is most likely a result of the fact that there are very few employment issues on site.

"Regardless of this, we remain open to further future visits by union representatives to this site and will work with them to ensure that anyone who wants to has opportunity to meet with them."

Site safety record

"Regrettably, an employee working for site contractor, Baldwin Crane Hire Ltd, suffered a serious injury on Monday April 20, while de-rigging a crane at the Wilton 11 construction site.

"The incident occurred at approximately 1pm and the injured employee was taken immediately to hospital, where he underwent surgery.

"The employee is now recovering at home and our thoughts are very much with him.

"The incident was reported to the HSE by our principle contractor CNIM/Clugston and a full investigation is now underway by both Baldwin Crane Hire and CNIM/Clugston to examine and report on the cause of the incident.

"We take the health and safety of all employees, whether directly employed by SITA UK, CNIM/Clugstons or our subcontractors, extremely seriously and workplace health and safety remains our top priority.

"While it is our view that one accident is one too many, it is worth noting that 602,545 man hours have been worked on the site without a RIDDOR reportable accident until now and the site has recently been awarded a gold award following an independent audit by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.