About 5000 building workers met at Festival Hall yesterday and agreed on a union pay deal that awarded increases of 15% over three years including a 6% rise in the first year. The deal is to cover more than 20,000 employees.
But Master Builders industrial relations manager Lawrie Cross said the union agreement was inflexible on issues such as rostered days off or cashing out annual leave. He said the presence of industry watchdog the Australian Building and Construction Commission was giving employers more confidence to offer non-union deals.
"The freedom of choice that is available to employers has become a reality because the ABCC is on the beat," Mr Cross said. "Unions are no longer at liberty to stand people up at the gate and insist that they have a particular kind of agreement."
The building industry is dominated by union collective agreements, but Mr Cross expects up to 15% of agreements to move to non-union deals. CFMEU assistant state secretary Bill Oliver expected the non-union offers to be ignored.
"I'm fairly confident our agreement will be successful," he said. "We expect all the major constructors to fall in line."
more
No comments:
Post a Comment