Seven construction companies have broken away from the Joint Industry Boards (JIBs) that have traditionally governed their industrial relations with the unions. Under the auspices of the Heating & Ventilation Contractors Association (HVCA), they have unilaterally drawn up the new Building Engineering Services National Agreement (Besna) and instructed employees to sign new contracts. The Unite union has been campaigning against the new contracts, claiming that they represent pay cuts of up to 30% for its members. The HVCA denies this.
The HVCA said that “early indications” showed that more than 70% of the workers who were asked to sign up to Besna or risk losing their jobs had so far returned signed contracts to their employers. Some companies have seen an even higher response rate in certain divisions, HVCA said.
For example, Balfour Beatty Engineering Services has seen 95.5% of contracts returned from employees in their building services division, it is claimed.
Some of the companies' regional offices are still gathering signed contracts, so the overall response rate may change, HVCA said.
According to Unite, employees have been threatended with losing their jobs if they do not sign the new contracts.
HVCA chief executive Blane Judd said: “We’re extremely encouraged by this early feedback. I’ve spoken with the companies and all of them are confident that more positive responses will follow as people review the facts about Besna and what it means for them. This agreement is vital for the future of our industry; it will help to secure jobs and win new contracts.”
Peter Lewis, chief executive of Shepherd Engineering Services – one of the breakaway seven - said: “The response from our employees has been very positive. To be frank, our complete focus on this issue has been on ensuring an exhaustive, detailed and transparent engagement with our people. We have spent an awful lot of face to face time on this. 92% of our workforce has signed up for the Besna arrangements and that total is increasing daily. When it has come to rational discussion and dealing with any original concerns that have come from the wider publicity, our employees have engaged with us in a really proactive way.
“They have agreed, understood and supported the need to modernise how we do things and the benefits Besna will bring everyone. We have always seen this as a way of making sure we can maximise direct employment well into the future.”
NG Bailey boss Martin Bailey said that more than 90% of his workforce had so far signed and the figure continued to rise. “It is clear from discussions with our employees that they understand the importance of the Besna and are not persuaded by the sensational headlines, such as the notion that workers will get a pay cut,” he said.
HVCA said that the aims of Besna included:
- Pay parity across all trade disciplines, resulting in pay increases for nearly a third of workers
- Safeguarding of jobs
- Broader training opportunities for apprentices
- Upskilling opportunities for many employees
- Increased on-site efficiency and business competitiveness.
The seven companies introducing Besna are Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, NG Bailey, Shepherd Engineering Services, SPIE Matthew Hall and T Clarke.
The Besna terms and conditions will come into effect during the last week in March and the first week of April 2012.
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