Image: Carillion.com
Carillion employees working on Network Rail projects have had their pay guaranteed to at least mid-April 2018.
Last Friday, the Official Receiver’s special managers, PwC, and Network Rail announced they had thrashed out an agreement which ensures that PwC can pay employees’ wages for work done on and supporting Network Rail’s projects until after Easter.
They have also made arrangements to ensure rail employees are paid as normal in January for work done in January.
With pay assured for the time being, Carillion employees working on Network Rail projects are being encouraged to turn up for work as normal.
In addition, funding has been secured to ensure that any suppliers to Carillion will be paid by PwC in respect of work relating to Network Rail projects since 15 January 2018, when Carillion filed for insolvency.
Network Rail and PwC are also working to evaluate the cost of work done on Network Rail contracts in the period up to liquidation with a view to providing clarity to suppliers as quickly as possible.
In a joint statement, the firms said: “Network Rail and PwC continue to work closely on proposals for the future treatment of contracts, staff and suppliers to ensure the continued delivery of these important projects.”
Meanwhile, GMB Southern, the union for workers in facilities management and construction, is calling on all workers who were working for Carillion subcontractors on projects in the South East and South West to get in touch with the union to secure rights and jobs.
In the aftermath of the collapse of Carillion the government set up a task force to deal with the issues that arise. The task force met on Thursday 19 January and GMB is represented by the TUC.
Paul Maloney, GMB regional secretary for southern region, said: “Over the past week GMB has been in touch with members employed by Carillion across the region to assist them in securing rights at work and their jobs and we have been able to make good progress in many places.
“We have become very aware that as well as the direct workers there is a huge number of workers employed by Carillion subcontractors who are in the same boat as the direct workers. We are aware of widespread subcontractors involved with the maintenance of armed forces houses across the region, for example.
“Many of these workers are not in the GMB so we don’t have contact details for them. We are appealing for them to contact GMB so that we can help them to get continuity of work and payment for work they have done.”
