The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) facilitated a cohort of 15 learners from across Sellafield’s supply chain companies to attend its NAECI Industrial Relations course.
The NAECI course was delivered by Don Atkinson of ACTTNow Training and took place at St Bees Management Centre in Cumbria.
The National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) sets comprehensive terms and conditions of employment for hourly-paid engineering construction workers on major and basic engineering construction projects, repair and maintenance sites and events or outages throughout the UK.
This course is designed to strengthen understanding and practical use of the NAECI Agreement ‘Blue Book’. It brings together both supervisors and stewards in a two-day interactive course aimed at ensuring that site managers, supervisors and shop stewards can make an effective contribution to the success of the projects they are working on.
Delegates from the Sellafield supply chain at the NAECI course
Aside from Cumbria, the ECITB-facilitated course has been run in Teesside and Hampshire over the past 12 months, with a potential future course planned for Scotland.
Participating Sellafield supply chain companies were Jacobs Field Services, Meldrum, P.P.S, Shepley, Athena-PTS, Hard Rock Scaffolding, Mitie and Kaefer Ltd, with the course funded through the ECITB Industrial Training Levy.
Developing NAECI understanding
Delegates that attended have spoken of the course helping them to develop an understanding and willingness on the agreement.
Dave Keville, Head of Supply Chain IR for Sellafield, said: “Sellafield is a strong supporter of NAECI and recently celebrated our 200th monthly site council meeting.
“We see people as the key to delivering NAECI successfully – their understanding of the letter of the agreement and their willingness to work together in the spirit of the agreement.
“The joint shop steward-supervisor course is an excellent way of bringing together two key groups to develop that understanding and willingness. We’re grateful to all our stakeholders who continue to support and participate in this course.”
Kevan Parker, who is Regional Operations Manager of the National Joint Council for the Engineering Construction Industry (NJC), added: “It’s undoubtable that after 20 years of the NAECI Agreement operating at Sellafield Ltd that it has worked well.
“It has delivered structure and stability for the contractors, workforce and Sellafield Ltd. An important component to maintaining the NAECI Agreement is to ensure that as many people, as is practically possible, understand the policies and procedures in the Blue Book as well as understanding the importance of the Sellafield Supplementary Agreement.
“To this end there is no doubt that supervisory management and shop steward NAECI training is a fundamental building block to achieving these goals and helping to maintain good industrial relations on the site.”