NEW SECTORAL EMPLOYMENT ORDER (SEO)
TO AFFECT THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Dear Member,
Following on from meetings with NECI – National Electrical Contractors Ireland. We wish to make you aware of serious legal changes being proposed by the government. A new Sectoral Employment Agreement(SEO) initially for electrical contractors is being proposed to become law on Sept 1st 2019. We are concerned that this will be a stepping stone for other trades which we The National Guild of Master Craftsmen are the largest representative body, our position is that the market should decide rates of salary and not an SEO. With regards to the CWPS (The Construction Workers Pension Scheme) we in conjunction with our financial management consultants have been successful in having the competition authority rule that the CWPS is anti-competitive. Our financial partners are at present putting together a superior pension scheme for all – more details and a launch to follow. The following is correspondence sent by NECI to its members and we strongly advise our members to support their/our efforts in reversing this proposal.
Electrical Contractors to face criminal charges from September 1st 2019!
Minister Breen has signed the new Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) for the Electrical Contracting Sector imposing mandatory terms and conditions on hourly pay rates (€24.34) and CWPS pension / sick benefit scheme weekly contributions (€48.31). This new law will criminalise contractors who don’t apply the full terms of the SEO in their businesses as recommended by the Labour Court following the AECI, ECA and Connect Trade Union (TEEU) application to examine the terms and conditions of employment for the electrical contracting sector. Electrical contractors all over Ireland have one last chance to challenge this SEO and ensure it never sees the light of day.
The SEO, which has come in many forms throughout the years, would see that all electrical contractors – no matter their size or income – have to pay the exact same conditions and offer the exact same obligations to their employees or face serious criminal charges.
While we believe that fair conditions should be paid to everyone in our industry, this new law is not a solution and will merely create an uneven playing field in favour of larger Dublin firms versus smaller rural contractors.
There has been no bigger threat to the Irish electrical industry than this SEO as it creeps quickly to fruition.
We at the NECI have questioned this SEO at every stage of its development with no answers given, and we must now ask you to help us in this fight.
We will be holding a series of meetings nationwide in order to inform the Electrical Contractors of the SEO implications and create a plausible resistance effort to this SEO. We have been successful in collapsing their two previous attempts to do this. With a little help from each of you, we strongly feel that we can do it again. We ask you to join us at your closest venue on the following dates, with more to be added soon.
Treacy’s Hotel, Templeshannon, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford Y21 V0F5 – Tues 25th 8pm
Tower Hotel, The Mall, Waterford, X91 VXE0 – Wed 26th 8pm
Rochestown Park Hotel, Rochestown Rd, Douglas, Co. Cork T12 AKC8 – Thurs 27th June 8pm
Our hearing will be held on the 16th of July, so this will be the very last chance for us to mobilise and deflect this unfair law leveraged in the favour of larger corporations.
We hope you will meet with us and influence how your industry will affect you and your employees.
Join this fight, if not for yourselves – then for the future of our industry.
We have also added the following dates:
Tues July 2nd – Central Hotel Tullamore, Main Street, Kilcruttin, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, R35 Y7P1 8pm
Wed July 3rd – Clayton Hotel Galway, Ballybrit, Galway, H91 D526 8pm
Thurs July 4th – TBC
Tuesday July 9th – Hotel Kilmore, Dublin Road, Co. Cavan, H12 F6Y7 8pm
Wed July 10th – TBC
Thursday July 11th – TBC
Saturday July 13th – TBC
In conclusion we would like our members to contact us by email info@nationalguild.ie outlining any history or current difficulties you may have encountered with REA (Registered Employment Agreement) or the CWPS. We with the NECI need to strengthen our case against this development. Thanking you for your time in reading this – remember it will affect all employers and looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Pat Doyle
National Guild of Master Craftsmen