A number of construction unions have agreed a pay offer on behalf of 500,000 workers covered by the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC). This rise will be the first pay rise for three years.
The original pay rise offer was 1.25% which would not begin until 2012 and it wouldn’t cover all pay grades, that offer was quickly rejected. The offer that has been accepted will see a pay rise of 1.5% and will be introduced on Monday 5 September 2011.
The unions also negotiated that the fare and subsistence allowances will be raised by 5.3% from Monday 27 June 2011.
The union’s negotiating team has also had proposals accepted ensuring that there will be talks at the beginning of 2012 to address basic rates of pay for UK construction workers.
Ucatt acting general secretary George Guy, who led the negotiations, said: “This is an improved offer and ends the pay freeze for construction workers. It has been made clear to employers that future increases must properly reflect rising costs and the difficult, demanding, and skilled work undertaken by construction workers.”
Unite national officer for construction John Allott said: “This pay deal is a small first step in ending low pay for hard working construction workers. The employers’ side must now realise that in the future pay rises must be of a significant level to properly reflect the demanding work performed by construction workers.”
Phil Davies, national secretary for construction of the GMB, said: “This offer was the best that can be achieved under the current economic conditions. The union side is committed to significantly improving the agreement over the coming years.”
Recipro sourced this article from Construction Index.