HVCA calls union claims 'total fiction'

Unite's claims that the new national working agreement will lead to massive pay cuts and sacked workers have been dismissed as 'total fiction' by the HVCA.
The Heating and Ventilating Contractors' Association (HVCA) is working with seven major British construction firms to introduce in March next year a new single national agreement to replace five separate deals that were drawn up 40 years ago in the building engineering services sector.

Responding to union claims that electricians, plumbers and mechanical operatives will be forced to take pay cuts and face being sacked, HVCA chief executive Blane Judd said: 'The claims by the Unite union that the new proposed agreement will lead to what it calls massive pay cuts and workers heading for the sack are total fiction. No one will take a pay cut - in fact 30 per cent will see an increase in their pay packets - and no one will lose their jobs.

'Unite demands that construction employers get back to the table for talks which is frustrating given that the union walked away in May and our door has remained open for six months. The union is calling for a day of protest in London on 9 November and while I'm in favour of lawful marches I do hope that those considering coming to the capital have a strong grasp of the facts from the employers about the agreement and not just the union's skewed views.'

The new Building Engineering Services National Agreement (BESNA) aims to benefit employers and employees in a number of ways:

• To increase on-site efficiency and business competitiveness.
• Create pay parity across all trade disciplines resulting in increases for nearly a third of workers.
• Ensure the safeguarding of jobs.
• Broaden training opportunities for apprentices.
• Create the upskilling opportunities for many employees.

Mr Judd added: 'The BESNA agreement is about responding to changes in the construction industry. If we don't evolve then we can't remain competitive and we could see British firms lose jobs to foreign contractors. This new agreement will create job security and give apprentices and skilled staff a bright future which is something that British industry needs to see right now.'

7 November 2011

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Comments

By Anonymous

07 November 2011 00:02:00

3 new grades for electricians: metalworker £10.50 per hour, £12 for wiring, £14 for terminating. At the moment, the electricians Joint Industry Board (JIB) rate is 16.25p per hour across the board. For the worst hit, this amounts to a 35% pay cut.

By Very Concerned Electrician

07 November 2011 00:01:00

As far as I can tell, the main reason for the BESNA is to save money on labour costs as this is the only expense that companies can control. They see 75% of the work currently undertaken by their highly trained employees as semi-skilled and they do not like the fact that they have to pay the same hourly rate for every task.

The new contract makes it flexible for the contractors to raise and lower employees pay, depending on which tasks they have been assigned. In worse case scenarios, this can result in an hourly wage cut of 35%.

Here are a few of the main points in the contract that particularly concern myself and my colleagues:

grading of tradesmen - currently carried out by the bodies mentioned above, the new contract puts all grading in the hands of the employer so they can raise and lower your hourly rate at any time
travel pay will be dramatically cut and will also be paid at the employer's discretion
overtime rates - weekend overtime rates have been dramatically cut and even receiving them is up the employer s discretion.
merging of electrical and mechanical trades they propose to remove electricians and plumbers from the equation totally, replacing them with building services engineers (whatever that is!)
unfair dismissal we re currently able to claim unfair dismissal from our first day. That term has been removed.
redundancy rules - have been changed. Currently, employers are not allowed to make redundancies whilst they have agency/temporary workers engaged on their projects. This term has been removed, so no protection is given at all for employees
apprenticeships - there will be no more electrical and plumbing apprenticeships offered by these companies as they want to build a work force of multi-skilled workers, trained in a little bit of everything but specialising in nothing.
I could go on and on: the old agreement is more than 250 pages long. BESNA is only 48 pages, which in itself is a sign that people are going to be losing a lot. Every single term in BESNA gives all the power to the employer. They get final say on everything. Nothing is set in stone.

And that is why we're angry, and why we'll keep fighting until we win this campaign.

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