Engineering construction workers operating under the National Agreement for Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) have secured a significant cost of living increase by introducing a supplementary payment. 

Following a series of pay freezes and below-inflation pay rises, industrial tensions had increased across the workforce, but after detailed negotiations between Unite, the UK’s leading union, and the employers’ side of the NAECI agreement, workers will receive an extra £1 for every hour worked between now and 30 June.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham hailed the deal as “a significant increase in pay for workers, who have benefited from making a collective stand and forced their employers to take action on the cost of living crisis.” 

However, while its union members have accepted the supplementary payment, local disputes over bonus payments involving NAECI workers, including at Drax, Grangemouth, Torness, and Mossmoran, will continue as workers continue to seek further increases in bonus payments.

The ongoing local action will put additional pressure on employers to resolve the enduring tensions with the agreement when talks begin later this year for a new pay agreement, which will come into effect in January 2024. 

Unite national officer Jason Poulter said: “employers must not be under any misapprehension that this will resolve the fundamental issues of fair pay, which underlines this dispute. Local disputes to increase bonus payments will continue and employers must understand that until a fair permanent wage deal is agreed, industrial tensions will remain.”