Scottish Labour MSP Colin Smyth has tabled a Parliamentary motion criticising Laing O'Rourke's decision not to allow union officials access to the £212 million Dumfries hospital project site.

The contractor is building the new hospital for NHS Scotland and completion is scheduled for December 2017.

Union UCATT has claimed management have refused officials proper access to the site, prompting the organisation to stage a protest outside the site earlier this month. However, a spokesperson for Laing O'Rourke said the union had not formally requested access.

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Now, Mr Smyth has brought forward the motion which claims the company has previously prevented unions from accessing from other publicly-funded infrastructure projects.

In addition, Mr Smyth states Laing O'Rourke was a member of the construction blacklisting organisation, the Consulting Association, and that the company's actions undermines the Scottish Government's Fair Work Convention, "workers' rights and increases exploitation".

Steve Dillon, Regional Secretary of UCATT Scotland, said: "Laing O'Rourke must provide proper access to their sites. This dispute is not going to go away. The Scottish Parliament and MSPS are not going to stand by and allow one company to ram raid its Fair Work Convention which is designed to prevent exploitation and abuse in the workplace.

"We welcome Mr Smyth's motion on this really important issue and urge all MSPs to sign it, in order to demonstrate that they on the side of Scottish workers and support the right of trade unions to organise and represent workers."

(Image: UCATT Protest outside the £212m Dumfries hospital project on 03 November)

(LM)