3% pay rise for builders

Local authority building and civil engineering workers are set to agree a 3% pay increase from this month. George Brumwell, general secretary of union UCATT, said: "There is an offer of 3%, and also talks about assimilating the wages of construction workers into the local government salaried structure.

"There will also be talks about an initiative on craft training. We have already achieved a 37-hour week. We will be consulting our members. We know the constraints imposed by the Treasury. We are more interested in the shape of the salary structure and peripheral conditions."