Dodgy scanners dumped


Construction workers’ union UCATT says its complaints over the failure of a digital fingerprinting system have been vindicated after management at the Costain-led ATC consortium on the London Crossrail project agreed that a human timekeeper will now be used. 


The union had complained that the digital fingerprint scanners were not working properly, with a number of workers on the site not having their entry and departure times accurately logged. 


Because working hours were not being properly logged, workers were not being paid for the time they had actually worked, and many had lost money, the union said. 


UCATT officials had also complained that the union had been denied access to the site canteen to discuss the issue with workers, and that that they had suffered harassment and intimidation by Costain ATC security and employees. This had included the videoing of UCATT officials outside the sites and delivery drivers threatening to “mow them down”.


Jerry Swain, UCATT regional secretary for London and the South East, said that Costain had “caved into pressure from UCATT and been forced to admit their fingerprint recognition system was scamming workers of their wages”. 


However, this was only half the story, as Costain “have been shamefully provocative, aggressive and intimidatory, given that all the worker grievances we raised were entirely legitimate,” Swain said. 


The ATC consortium is a joint venture involving the Alstom rail infrastructure group and the TSO construction and Costain engineering companies. 


https://www.ucatt.org.uk/ucatt-forces-crossrail-introduce-timekepper-after-failure-digital-payment-system