HVCA president John Miller has re-stated his Association"e;s commitment to reforming and reshaping the industrial relations culture across building services engineering ‐ and to the work currently being undertaken to harmonise employment terms and conditions across the mechanical and electrical sectors.
"e;We are working closely with the Electrical Contractors"e; Association (ECA) and SELECT in Scotland to develop a single working rule agreement covering the two disciplines,"e; said Mr Miller.
And he confirmed that the "e;excellent progress"e; being made on the
issue had led him to be hopeful that, by the middle of the year, a sufficient consensus would have been achieved among the employers bodies for meaningful dialogue to begin with the trade union.
"e;Probably the principal issue yet to be fully resolved is the precise nature of the infrastructure required to administer a combined agreement,"e; the president acknowledged — pointing out that the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry, for example, had "e;no locus whatsoever as far as the mechanical sector is concerned"e;.
"e;HVCA members remain resolute in their belief that a new, purpose-built framework is required to accommodate new relationships, new working practices and new technologies,"e; he said.
John Miller also stressed that this initiative was being treated entirely separately from the discussions on "e;convergence"e; that had been taking place between the ECA and HVCA officers in recent months, around "e;our shared vision of a single organisation to represent mechanical and electrical contractors"e;.
He explained that a survey form had been mailed to every ECA and HVCA member, upon which they were being urged to record their views on two central issues.
"e;Firstly, we have asked them to support the concept of convergence‐ of the creation of a single organisation for m&e contractors.
"e;Secondly, we have asked them to support the formation of a Convergence Board that will examine the views so far expressed by members ‐ and produce a model for a single organisation upon which the membership can, in the fullness of time, be consulted.
"e;The outcome of the survey, while in no way binding in itself, will be reported to the Councils of the two Associations at their meetings in March and April ‐ at which some decisions may be taken that could have a great deal of significance for the sector,"e; said the president.
In the meantime, HVCA was also planning the launch ‐ some time in the spring of this year ‐ of "e;arrangements that will provide a framework for a more formal relationship"e; between the HVCA and the labour agencies that were becoming an increasingly prominent feature of today"e;s employment landscape.
"e;I believe that, taken together, these two initiatives ‐ the combined working rule agreement and the labour agency arrangements ‐ will bring us several important steps closer to achieving a ‘joined up"e; approach to the management of industrial relations across building services engineering, and to the development of working practices that will deliver genuine improvements in productivity across the industry,"e; the president concluded.
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