Pay talks back on

Pay talks between unions and employers, which stalled last week over the issue of bonus clawbacks and the Working Time Directive are back on, according to a Ucatt spokesman.

CJ understands that the four-year pay deal has been dropped in favour of a three-year deal without the bonus clawback.

Meanwhile major contractors have been urged to follow the example of the Federation of Master Builders, which this week announced a successful conclusion to its annual pay talks.

The FMB and the TGWU have agreed a 3.8 per cent pay rise effective from the 21 July this year.

Under the agreement the craftsman rate will top œ200 a week for the first time and the total allowance will rise by nearly 40 per cent. The general operatives' basic salary will be œ171.21p a week and the corresponding hourly rates are œ5.13p and œ4.39p. Apprentice rates have been adjusted pro rata.

"When we told the other employers organisations that we'd settled in very harmonious circumstances they were staggered," said FMB national president Brian Tierney.

TGWU construction secretary George Henderson welcomed the deal.