This month's issue carries the first of two reports into the recent Joint Industry Board conference (page 15). Readers may be forgiven for thinking that all we have done is change the date at the bottom of the page from our last reports four years ago.
I can recall writing this very column following the 2000 conference in Harrogate. Delegates were, and I quote, "committed to the need for radical change if the JIB is to remain relevant to today's working practices." I went on to suggest that if the far-reaching ideas were not acted upon, perhaps there would be no conference in 2002. That prophecy turned out to be true, if for the wrong reasons.

No one could have predicted that four years later the same old arguments would still be trotted out: primarily, how the role of the JIB agreement should adapt for today's changing working environment. Sadly, this has been the main topic of debate at every JIB get-together since Harrogate 1996.

No one would argue that scrapping the JIB and a return to us and them stand-offs is the way forward. But steps forward there must be if the JIB is to be held in as high regard in the future as it has been in the past.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor