ELECTRICIANS are demanding energy firms SSE and Scottish Power intervene after one of their contractors allegedly sacked and blacklisted three colleagues when they sought recognition for their union Unite.

The three were sacked on December 23 and immediately mounted a protest outside the headquarters of SSE in Glasgow.

They have also launched a campaign for their reinstatement and their case has been taken to an employment tribunal.

Union activist Greig McArthur, one of the sacked workers, told the Morning Star: “I was sacked on December 23 for attempting to organise my company for trade union recognition.

“The company Kirby Group Engineering were only weeks away from meeting with [arbitration service] Acas and Unite the Union, my union, to move into negotiations for recognition after being threatened with the statutory recognition route in the courts for unnecessarily delaying the process.”

He said that the protest on December 23 shut down SSE’s headquarters in Glasgow.

The workers are calling on SSE and Scottish Power to “take some responsibility for their subcontractor firms behaving like this.”

Mr McArthur also said that Kirby Group Engineering should “stop these attacks on trade union members or else risk losing these lucrative public contracts.”

“In the past, the Scottish Parliament passed motions against awarding publicly funded contracts to companies involved in blacklisting,” he said.

The workers’ case will be heard by an employment tribunal on January 27.

Kirby Group Engineering, which is based in Brentford in London and has operations across Europe, Scottish Power and SSE were invited to comment.