Last week Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, the biggest of seven contractors planning to introduce new contracts, announced its withdrawal in the face of union protests on both sides of the Atlantic.
NG Bailey has now followed Balfour Beatty’s lead, declaring the new contracts to be now "untenable".
Both companies are leading lights of the Heating & Ventilation Contractors Association, which drew up controversial new employment conditions called the Building Engineering Services National Agreement (Besna). The idea was to update Joint Industry Board agreements with contracts that better reflected modern working conditions, with a single agreement replacing five previous ones that date back to the 1960s.
Trade unions campaigned against the reforms, arguing that they represented a pay cut of up to 30% for many members. They were particularly incensed at the ‘sign or be sacked’ attitude of the employers.
NG Bailey today issued this statement:
“The Besna agreement relied on the UK’s leading engineering companies adopting one single agreement that would introduce a modern working environment.
“Following the announcement from Balfour Beatty Engineering Services last Friday, the future of the BESNA is now untenable. NG Bailey can therefore confirm it will withdraw the BESNA contracts and will continue to work to the current working rule agreements.
“The company welcomes Unite’s statement that it is committed to wide ranging talks on modernising the industry.”
There is still no comment coming from the HVCA on the collapse of its plan.
The five other contractors that had intended to adopt Besna are: Crown House Technologies, Gratte Brothers, Spie Matthew Hall, Shepherd Engineering Services (SES), and T Clarke.
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