Throughout its 100 year history the ECA has played an active role in promoting harmonious relations between employers and trade unions. This co-operative approach was to prove a role model for other industries and other sectors of the construction industry.
The very principles underlying the formation of the ECA encompassed a spirit of negotiation, with a view to preventing disputes between employers and employees. Over the years this has led to an emphasis on compromise rather than confrontation that is much in evidence throughout the Association's development.

In theory, however, the Association should not have got involved in any of these activities, at least in the early days. When it changed its name from the National Electrical Contractors Association and dropped the 'National', the Association also became registered as a company. Its Board of Trade licence and conditions included the proviso that the Association did not negotiate with trade unions and could not dictate to members on conditions of employment. In this way the Board of Trade was seeking to ensure that the Association did not behave like a trade union.

Local wage agreements
During those early years, wages were agreed locally with guidance from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) on what could be considered a fair wage. Employers could agree with these recommendations or not, but if they disagreed they were likely to be on the receiving end of a strike.

Therefore, despite the Board of Trade, the Association was keen to introduce greater stability to the industry. To that end the Manchester branch of the ECA entered into an agreement with the local ETU in 1908. Covering such areas of contention as rates of pay, hours of work and overtime this agreement generated many benefits – benefits that were quickly appreciated and paved the way for a national agreement.

Before a national agreement could be established, the First World War broke out, bringing with it a sharp increase in the cost of living and an increase in the number of disputes over wages. The Government of the time quickly recognised how wasteful these disputes were, detracting from the war effort, and began to encourage a system of collective bargaining.

In the electrical industry the obvious representative for the employers in this collective bargaining was the ECA. This led to a restructuring of the Association in 1916 to create three separate organisations – one of which was to take on the role of negotiations with the unions.

Under this new structure, the ECA continued in its role as the voice of the electrical contracting industry, while the newly formed National Electrical Contractors Trading Association (NECTA) took over negotiations with manufacturers. From an industrial relations point of view, however, it was the third arm – the National Federated Electrical Association (NFEA) that was to handle negotiations with the ETU and the Association of Supervising Engineers.

By 1919 the government was encouraging the establishment of joint industrial councils, a concept that was embraced by the electrical industry and led to the formation of the National Joint Industrial Council, involving the NFEA and the ETU.

Standardising wages
A number of significant benefits arose from these meetings, with the establishment of a national agreement to standardise wages. Apart from bringing greater stability to the industry it also made it possible to predict labour costs accurately for estimating purposes.

Things continued steadily for a number of years but during the 1950s there was increasing conflict between employers and the unions and the NJIC became less effective as both sides drifted apart. The result was a series of strikes in 1961, which in turn led to site payments being made in excess of the national agreement.

This friction was maintained until 1963 when a change of attitude by the ETU led to a partial thawing of the frosty relationship that had developed. Once again, a sense of working together began to prevail and in 1967 the Joint Industry Board (JIB) was formed. Based on an American scheme of the same name, the JIB was to adopt a principle of power sharing between employees and employers in the form of the ECA and ETU. Responsible for negotiating wages and conditions within the industry, it also fostered the idea of grading operatives with the introduction of the JIB grade card.

Throughout this time the ECA worked with the EETPU (having changed its name from the ETU in 1968) to prevent strikes and, indeed, there was only one strike sanctioned by the union between 1966 and 1984. This was thanks largely to the leadership of union general secretary Frank Chapple.

The one official strike that did go ahead came about when the government threatened to remove contracts from contractors as a way of controlling wage rates. Eventually the courts decided that the agreement between the ECA and union took precedence over government threats.

The next big challenge to face the JIB came during the building boom of the 1980s, when there was big upsurge in the number of self-employed electricians being used on projects. While this arrangement gave ECA member companies greater flexibility, it also afforded them less control.

To deal with this situation, the ECA formed ESCA Services Ltd, derived from the Engineering Services Contracting Association that had been formed jointly with the Heating and Ventilating Contractors' Association (HVCA). Operating as an agency, ESCA Services only hired JIB-graded operatives with current 714 certificates and only supplied ECA members. Although the EETPU was opposed to this initially, it soon saw the benefits and became fully involved. Since that time, ESCA Services has introduced other trades and now supplies site labour of all types.

A sense of flexibility
Through both good and bad times, the ECA has maintained a positive input into the industrial relations of the electrical contracting industry. At the heart of this success has been a sense of flexibility and compromise, combined with a determination to work with the unions rather than against them.

Rather than trying to force changes through, the emphasis has been to find a way of initiating change that suits all concerned, greatly assisted by the enlightened leadership of the unions themselves.

Hot spots

1904 Board of Trade licence prohibits ECA from negotiating with trade unions
1908 Agreement reached in Manchester between ECA and ETU
1916 ECA restructures to form three organisations
1919 Formation of NJIC
1961 Strikes lead to extra site payments
1967 Formation of JIB
1968 ETU becomes EETPU
1987 Formation of ESCA Services
1992 EETPU becomes AEEU

If you scuffed your feet on a carpet long enough, your finger would collect so many negative particles that it would actually explode! How many Californians does it take to change a light bulb? Six. One to turn the bulb, one for support, and four to share the experience.