A debate is raging over the wage rates and conditions for datacomms personnel following their introduction to the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme.
The ECA is conducting informal discussions with Amicus and the Joint Industry Board (JIB) regarding the establishment of terms and conditions of employment for datacomms personnel. The debate has surfaced as a result of datacomms personnel being graded and brought into the JIB Electrotechnical Certification Scheme.

Recognising that some members would not want to impose JIB terms and conditions in this area, the ECA has written to Amicus to clarify that the negotiation of terms and conditions for datacomms personnel could only be applied on an optional basis as with the ‘other grades’ category already included within the JIB agreement.

Head of employee relations, Alex Meikle, says: “There is a wide variety of views on the datacomms JIB issue. Some companies within the ECA are keen to set up terms and conditions, others are not. The ECA Labour Relations Committee has canvassed members and is meeting to discuss their views before formally going forward to speak with the union on the issue.”

Currently, consideration is being given to whether there should be a set of JIB terms and conditions for datacomms and, if so, whether they should be in respect of wage rates only or include other terms and conditions as well.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor