CARILLION COLLAPSE HUNDREDS OF JOBS AT RISK IN FIRM WITH MAJOR NI CONTRACTS
HUNDREDS of Northern Ireland workers face the threat of major job losses after Carillion staff were sent home following the collapse of the infrastructure giant.
The listed firm entered liquidation yesterday, six months after it issued a profits warning.
It has three major contracts with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), worth £35m a year, for maintenance.
Carillion employs about 500 staff here, with around 230 working for the NIHE. Across the UK, around 20,000 workers now face an uncertain future.
Aside from NIHE contracts, it also employs workers with Power NI and the Ministry of Defence.
Trade union Unite said, following a meeting with staff yesterday, that members were “instructed to go home” when they came to work.
Unite’s regional secretary Jackie Pollock said: “Unfortunately today, our members have reported that when employees presented for work this morning they were instructed to go home.
“Agency workers were told that they should return to their employment agency for further instructions and those who drove vehicles were instructed to remove all personal possessions and return them.
“It is clear that despite those assurances from the Housing Executive we are facing the threat of large scale redundancy.”
A spokesman for the Housing Executive said: “The Housing Executive is continuing to monitor the situation closely and will implement contingency arrangements regarding our maintenance and heating services as soon as required. We will provide a further update in due course.”
Earlier this month the Belfast Telegraph revealed the firm was trying to sell off tens of millions of pounds in Northern Ireland Housing Executive contracts along with the rest of its business across Ireland.
The NIHE signed a fresh deal with Carillion at the end of last year, despite a profits warning from the listed firm in July.
Sinn Fein MLA Caral Ni Chuilin said: “There are also broader questions for the Housing Executive to answer about the extent of their contractual relationships with Carillion, even as the firm repeatedly faced financial ruin in recent years.”
She added: “The welfare and livelihoods of families in social housing must not be dependent on the financial position of a British construction giant.”
PwC, which is handling the liquidation, said: “The official receiver’s priority is to ensure the continuity of public services while securing the best outcome for creditors.
“Unless told otherwise, all employees, agents and sub-contractors are being asked to continue to work as normal and they will be paid for the work they do during the liquidations.”
Michael Mulholland of the GMB union said that Carillion management “confirmed they will continue to pay staff until the end of January and they will be working closely with us on the future”.
He said that he wanted the workers to be transferred to other providers through Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations — when workers and potentially any other liabilities are transferred to a new employer which takes on the work.