Union accepts wage deal

The ECA and Unite-Amicus have signed a wage agreement first put forward in April.

The deal consists of a 14.8% pay rise over three years, based on a 38 hour week: 4.67% in 2008, 4.5% in 2009 and 5% in 2010.

Union members had originally refused the wage offer at the end of June. A JIB/SJIB ballot was held nationally. Out of the 17 340 papers sent out, just 4150 were returned.

In all, 59.46% of voters rejected the wage offer. Yet the deal was signed without any improvement from the ECA.

“It was a good agreement and we’ve stuck with that,” said Alex Meikle, head of employee relations at the ECA. “It’s good for the guys and a sensible deal for ECA members.”

Tom Hardacre, Unite-Amicus national officer, said: “It is a reasonable deal, particularly in the light of what is being offered to public sector workers.”

The apparent U-turn in feeling among the union stems from a mixture of the low response to the wage ballot in June and the laws surrounding industrial action. The legality of any strike ballot was likely to have been contested by the employers because of the union’s inability to know the location of all of its members.

This meant the only option open to the union was to assess the mood on a site-by-site basis.

“We consulted members on some high-profile sites, but there wasn’t the groundswell needed to take the employers on,” said Hardacre.

Unite-Amicus will address some of the balloting issues before any future negotiations.