Pay talks over construction’s largest industrial agreement have broken up without agreement.
Around 500,000 construction workers are affected by The Construction Industry Joint Council Working Rule Agreement.
The unions involved in the negotiations – UCATT, Unite and GMB – rejected an offer of 3.5% over two years in March, describing it as “derisory”.
UCATT said that construction employers were now seeking a new mandate from their organisations and it hoped that talks could be reconvened “in the next few weeks”.
The annual pay date for the agreement is the last Monday in June (27 June 2016).
Brian Rye, acting general secretary of construction union UCATT, said: “The employers’ offer was well below the expectations of the construction workforce. To be worthwhile a multi-year deal must be in the best interests of the industry, the employers and workers. What was being offered did not meet these objectives.”
Unite national officer for construction, John Allott, said: “We are seeking a well-above inflation increase because this particular agreement has been left behind by other construction agreements.”