Unions claimed a victory in the simmering dispute over foreign workers on Friday, after securing the first hard evidence that Poles subcontracted to work at a power station in Kent were being paid almost a third less than the agreed hourly rate for the industry.
The issue of pay differentials was at the centre of a rash of protests at more than a dozen oil refineries, gas terminals and power stations in January, centred on Total’s Lindsey oil refinery. All the employers involved strongly denied at the time that they were paying foreign workers less.
