NECI holds sucessful meetings to gather support

national | worker & community struggles and protests | press release Monday June 09, 2008 15:17 by Dave Butler - NECI

At a well attended meeting in the Radission Hotel Athlone the new organisation that is being formed to give the approximately 4000 electrical contractors who have no voice within the industry moved a step closer to creating that voice.

This meeting follows a local meeting in Wicklow which was attended by almost twice the expected numbers. A number of county meetings are being set up this week to gather support.
A more formal steering group was elected to deal with the Labour Court case that is happening on the 16th of June. Their task is also to gather the support of the many company’s who have never being educated in their responsibilities under the existing Registered Employment Agreement. The new National Electrical Contractors Ireland (NECI) has been shocked by the level of company’s who are operating in the industry and know little or nothing about the agreement. This in fact is seen by NECI as one of the major failings in the original agreement. Advice was also given on the best way to deal with EPACE at the moment.

NECI also presented some of the shocking preliminary results that are being produced by their nationwide survey of the opinions of company’s operating in the electrical industry. If you are operating in the electrical area you can partake in the survey by clicking the attached link .

The new NECI stressed that their objective is to be involved in the negations for a new Registered Employment Agreement that is fair to all employers and workers in the sector. Not as TEEU claim to reduce all electricians pay to the minimum wage. In fact the NECI would like a system in the new agreement where top performing employees could be paid more than the existing rates.

The NECIs objection to the whole agreement is based on section 27 (3) Part C of the 1946 Industrial relations act which states that the Labour Court must be satisfied that party's to the agreement must be substantially representative of the body's they are speaking for. It is the NECIs opinion that the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA) with 59 members and the Association of Electrical Contractors Of Ireland (AECI) with 360 members are not representative of the approx 4000 contractors who employ people. This hearing has now been deferred to the 16th of June.