National Electrical Contractors of Ireland (NECI) has welcomed the decision by the members of AECI to reject the 4.9% pay increase.

The move, worth around €1.05, was proposed in a non-binding recommendation from the Labour Court for the electricians working in the electrical contracting industry.

"By now it should be clear to all, that any agreement which deems it compulsory for all Electrical Contractors, large and small, to operate their companies under the same business model, is flawed from the outset," NECI said.

NECI said it had identified this issue and "called it out loudly and clearly" to the Labour Court, back in 2008.

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"For the last 12 months, during which time our industry has been devastated, NECI has been pushing as hard as it possibly can, to get the message across, to the Industry, to the Union, to the other employer associations and to senior government ministers," said the spokesman.

NECI said any pay increase in the current economic climate is not viable for the small contractor.

"It is obvious now that the minority larger contractors are willing to pay the increase to ensure industrial stability, which is understandable as they can recover the cost of this increase from their customers which in most cases is the government," the association said.

According to NECI, it is difficult to understand how the Labour Court recommended this 4.9% increase, after being provided with evidence that electricians are paid 3% more than all other construction craft workers.

The same increase was rejected by the same chairman of the same court in February of this year, NECI said.

(PR/JM)