Unions toughen pay stance

Unions in the engineering construction industry have beefed up their 2010 pay claim. They are calling for an enhanced role for auditors who oversee the implementation of the terms of the sector's national Naeci agreement.

Talks on the pay claim opened this week. The unions called for the agreement's auditors to be involved at the pre-tender stage of contracts. They also pressed for auditors to have a more active role in ensuring that the agrement's terms and conditions are met on site.

The pay talks followed an earlier meeting of GMB shop stewards and officials to discuss concerns over the Naeci agreement. It was claimed that there was documentary evidence to show that contractors on certain sites were failing fully to observe the agreement. It was alleged that this was particularly true on the Isle of Grain power station site.

The GMB meeting also agreed to update full details of its membership in the industry. This was in order to put the union in a position to run an early ballot on industrial action in defense of the Naeci agreement, "if necessary."