Crane operators at HTC Plant are set to strike this Friday 7 November in a dispute with their employer over pay.
Last week construction union Ucatt announced that 180 crane operators at HTC Plant voted 94 per cent in favour of taking strike action.
Three 24-hour stoppages have been called for successive Fridays, with the first to take place this Friday 7 November.
HTC Plant director and general manager Dave Holder told Construction News he would meet with Ucatt representatives in London on Monday afternoon.
“We’ve been to the table three times and each time HTC has given on their position, we’re probably looking for Ucatt to reciprocate,” he said.
Mr Holder said he hoped the outcome of the meeting would be “positive”.
Ucatt warned a number of major London construction sites would be affected by the strike action, including Crossrail, the London Bridge redevelopment, Land Securities’ Nova scheme in Victoria and Lend Lease’s Elephant and Castle regeneration.
It said Bam, Costain, Kier, Mace and Vinci were among the contractors that would be affected.
A Bam Construct spokesman said a “handful” of sites would be affected if the 24-hour strike were to go ahead, but that it would not have a significant impact across the UK.
“We’re keeping in touch very closely with what’s happening via our plant team to identify what effect it would have on us and if there are alternatives.
“Because teams are aware of it, they may be able to make alternative arrangements or reschedule bits of the programme so it does not have as much effect as it could do,” he said.
Last week, a Crossrail spokesman said the proposed strike action “is not expected to have any impact on Crossrail’s construction as HTC’s presence on the Crossrail project is currently limited”.
Ucatt said crane divers at HTC had experienced several pay freezes since 2008 with a real terms wages cut.
It said it had previously attempted to undertake pay negotiations with HTC but the company did not table an offer that met the expectations of members.
Mr Holder told Construction News last week that HTC had offered a 3 per cent pay increase this year, followed by a further 3 per cent increase in 2015, and the reinstatement of benefits that were scrapped to “help the company through the recession”.