Building industry implements wage increase accord for new year

THE BUILDING Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC) (Cape of Good Hope) has announced the wage increases for the building industry applicable from November 1.

The parties concluded a three-year wage agreement in 2013 and the agreement will expire at the end of October.

“The benefit of collective bargaining is that the industry can avoid wage strikes, an advantage that the industry can justifiably be proud of. There have not been industrywide strikes within the jurisdiction of the BIBC for more than 20 years,” says Ronel Sheehan, secretary for the Building Industry Bargaining Council (Cape of Good Hope).

The increases range from 7.5 percent to about 12 percent depending on the category of employment and the area of operation. The higher increases are due to the council’s commitment to wage parity between all the areas within its scope. The bargaining council will now apply to have the increases as well as other negotiated changes to the agreement, extended to non-parties by the minister of labour.

The collective agreement is aimed at ensuring stability in the building industry and governs the industry as a whole. It covers the critical elements of minimum wages and benefits, clauses that have wide-ranging effects on the industry as a whole. Employers and employees in the peninsula, Boland, Malmesbury and Overstrand areas are represented by the Master Builders’ and Allied Trades Association Western Cape; Boland Master Builders’ and Allied Trades Association; Building Workers’ Union; Building, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union of South Africa; National Union of Mineworkers and the Building Construction and Allied Workers’ Union.

Visit www.bibc.co.za.