Amicus plans bargaining campaign

Technical and professional union Amicus has announced that it is launching a campaign to bring back national bargaining in the engineering sector.

Employers could be targeted if they fail to attain industry standards on pay, pensions and workplace training. If successful, this could reverse the shift to company-level bargaining that took place in the early 1990s and represent a watershed for collective bargaining in the sector.

The union says there is evidence that engineering pay differentials are growing as employers compare regional pay levels with one another.

A National Executive Committee statement to the union's annual conference last month said that the most effective way to achieve fair pay would be to establish a set of minimum benchmarks based on skill levels.

These could be included in all future pay claims as a way of working towards re-establishing national collective bargaining.

Derek Simpson, general secretary said: "Collective bargaining will help restore better employee pay, skills and pensions. It will attract more young talent into engineering which is blighted by recruitment difficulties and skill shortages."

The union will be asking the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) to approve the use of its £15 million strike fund for the new campaign. Amicus members make up 80% of the CSEU membership.