NECI Fight Justified !

national | worker & community struggles and protests | press release

Monday October 06, 2008 19:29

by Dave Butler - NECI

nationalelectricalcontractors at gmail dot com

National Electrical Contractors Ireland (NECI) is Gaining Ground in It’s Fight to Save Electrical Contractors Businesses, Electricians Jobs, And Their Industry.

Grown from a small number of Concerned Electrical Contractors who could see that the Electrical Contracting Industry is under immense pressure, with our businesses and employees’ jobs hanging in the balance, NECI is now going from strength to strength.

We believe that we cannot be judged for the sins of our forefathers, but we can and we will be judged for our actions or inactions to protect our industry and the jobs within our sector going into the future.

In a few short months, we have conducted 19 information meetings right across the country. The feedback from our fellow contractors around the country is frightening and appalling to say the least.

Cash flow problems ranging from customers who can't afford to pay, to developers unable to access finance from the banks. Subcontractors are providing labour on contracts but not getting paid by main contractors. This subcontractor problem is escalating at an alarming rate, forcing many contractors to let their electricians and apprentices go.

The situation would have been a lot worse were it not for NECI's decisive action to step in and work tirelessly to rescue our industry and our employees' jobs from being sold down the river.

NECI's actions in relation to objecting to this year’s 5% proposed wage increase, agreed by the other two trade associations, and our challenge to the Registered Employment Agreement, has been well and truly vindicated as can be clearly seen by the outcome of the national pay talks (of which the electrical contracting industry are not a part).

The proposed draft pay increase under the national pay talks looks destined to fail with the CIF & the Small Firms Association having serious issues with this draft proposal. This proposed increase which was to be over 21 months, is less than half what our representatives were agreeing to for the Electrical Contracting Industry over a 12 month time scale.

The proposed increase in the electrical contracting industry is negotiated by the three parties to the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC), the two employer representative bodies and the union, by means of the Analog system which we believe is a dysfunctional and an unfair system.

As pointed out to Judge O'Keeffe in the High Court by Senior Counsel for NECI:
"Clause 24 of the agreement sets out a formula to be applied in September to reach a figure to be applied from 1st April of the following year – and clearly infers that application for variations must be made to the Labour Court after 1st September and before 1st April for determination and registration. This year’s application was made to the Labour Court on 9th April, but there is no provision in the agreement for parties to make applications on 9th April – the 'window' had passed for this year. It is now open to the parties to agree a proposed increase and to apply for it to be determined and registered for implementation from 1st April 2009.”

"The parties to the agreement cannot seek to fudge the agreement when it suits them. Their case for an undertaking is based on acceptance of the fact that the Labour Court cannot register a variation retrospective to 1st April! Employees can suffer no loss because there can be no increase until 1st April 2009."'

NECI have in excess of 600 members at present and growing in strength every day. Our survey has sampled more than 20% of the industry and the startling findings will be released to the industry at our AGM in December.

NECI Brings its Concerns Directly To Government!

A delegation from NECI comprising of Denis Judge, Dave Butler, John Smith, and Paul Reinhardt has met with senior Government representatives in St Lukes House, Drumcrondra, Dublin.
We have outlined in detail our concerns regarding the many serious issues affecting our Industry.
• Employment Law Bill 2008,
• Proposed new NSAI licenses for design & supply and installation of Fire Alarms & Emergency Lighting,
• PSA Licenses for supply and installation Intruder Alarms,
• Proposed New Licenses by the PSA for the Supply And Installation of CCTV and Access Control & associated equipment,
...... To mention just a few.
Our presentation was well received and we expressed our grave concerns, regarding the new Employment Law Bill that is due to come before the Dail in the very near future. We have been given a commitment that our concerns will now be highlighted to relevant Senior Government Departments and the invitation to take part a serious of meetings to follow in the coming weeks with Government. These meetings are to deal with a number of issues in our industry and how they are negatively impacting on our businesses and the employment of our electricians and our apprentices.

We would like again to assure our industry that we will continue to leave no stone unturned until we have achieved all of our AIMS and OBJECTIVES as launched in Athlone five months ago.

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NECI Fight Justified !