Craft minimum rate of £10 an hour tabled

A new craft minimum rate of £10 per hour is on the table after building and civil engineering employers covered by the Construction Industry Joint Council stepped up their latest pay offer from an opening bid of 9.6% to 11.1% over the next three years.

The employers have also offered to increase death benefit by 5% to £1,000.

At the latest round of negotiations, leaders of UCATT, the TGWU, and GMB rejected the offer. They indicated that they are still looking for "a lot more" on rates of pay. Their claim is for a "substantial increase."

Alan Ritchie, UCATT general secretary, said: "We will be meeting the employers again later this month to seek a further improvement in the pay offer."

Both sides said they were happy to go for another three-year settlement. The unions indicated that they were particularly keen to cut the waiting period for industry sick pay. The employers said they would like some rationalisation of the national agreement. They stood firm against any reduction in the working week. They have agreed a conditional fixed link between the craft pay and apprentice rates.

Talks are set to resume at the end of March. Early signs are that the next meeting will see a deal being struck. The current three-year deal expires at the end of June.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the Federation of Master Builders and the TGWU under the rival BATJIC national agreement are set to open next week.