Taking back the industry

[ians]

The working employer, his assistant and the lady who works in the office . So if you are a one man business with only one employee and a woman who works in your office you are excluded? That excludes a lot of small electrical contractors and sub contractors.

[AndyD]

Which means that all the one-man-band outfits are exempt anyway. Surely this is where much of the problem lies with the quality of work of these kind of contractors. Also it does nothing to stop plumbers installing electrics for geysers, security companies botching a supply for their alarm panel, DSTV installers not earthing their antenna poles, handymen installing the gate supply....I could go on....

Andy since they realised there are a few more zero to add to their monthly income.

Yeah, this was kinda where I was heading with my comment.

[ians]

Andy are saying i do kak jobs? Be Careful there are a lot of one man band outfit on this forum. I would employ the services of a man operation any day rather than a big company which sends a person who is watching the clock for tea time lunch time and 4 pm.

I do believe its not us one man bands causing the problem in the industry, more the big companies using unskilled staff to perform skilled tasks with the cheapest rubbish equipment money can buy, because they dont want to waste money on good stuff because the staff just f..... It up or steal it. Being on site everyday i see the problems first hand.

It is the big companies who are registered causing crap workmanship problems on site.

A good example is a hospital which was built recently, the company was instructed to use inspectors not employed by the contractor on site, because of their bad reputation. Man was that an eye opener. When i found 2 way light switching connected via plug circuits, yeah believe it or not, i started asking question. All i am going to say is...no comment.

However i do agree with you about the plumbers, dstv installers etc.

[ians]

The only way they are going to sort out the problems in the industry is to have people who are employed by the relevant department in the DOL suitably qualified with years of experience who dont take bribes.

[Sparks]

The problem is not with competent one man contractors Ian, it is with the unqualified one man operations. They are the ones who don't know there is a difference between the two neutral bars, they are the ones using the earth wire as a return for an extra light fitting, they are the ones who do not know the difference between an isolator and a lightswitch.....

[ians]

I know sparks, i was just having a go at Andy

[AndyD]

I'm pretty sure you got my point but you're right, generalising is dangerous.

The problem I see is it's more likely someone unqualified who's setting up in business to work with electrical installations is most likely to have a business structure that makes them exempt from being caught by the net designed to prevent this.

[Dave A]

The working employer, his assistant and the lady who works in the office . So if you are a one man business with only one employee and a woman who works in your office you are excluded? That excludes a lot of small electrical contractors and sub contractors.

I've double checked, and I'd better clear this one up.

The working employer is exempted.
The lady who works in the office does not fall under the collective agreement either.
However, the assistant to the working employer does fall under the collective agreement!

The only time the electrical contractor is not required to register with the bargaining council is if they do all the electrical contracting work ace-alone.
And after checking with the KZN compliance officer, apparently even then, quite a few "sole traders" voluntarily register with the council anyway.

[ACEsterhuizen]

Hi All, but then these guys are contradicting themselves, as their definition of a "General Assistant" is: and this is their own written definition in the same agreement where the GA is excluded:


" "general assistant" means an employee who

(a) is engaged in any or all of the following tasks;
(i) Digging holes and trenches, planting poles and laying and
pulling cables in trenches,
(ii) chasing and cutting walls and concrete floors for conduit,
providing no power tools are used
(iii) loading or unloading materials,
(iv) stripping redundant installations and equipment incidental
thereto from which the supply cables have been removed,
(b) is employed on the following terms and conditions -
(i) no such employee shall be employed for a total period
exceeding 4 months in any calendar year, with the same
employer.
(ii) the prescribed minimum wage rate of an employee shall not be
less than 75% of the prescribed minimum wage rate of an
Electrical Assistant,
(iii) all general assistants shall be included in the Council's monthly
return forms and an employer shall be required to pay all
applicable contributions and subscriptions in terms of the
Council's collective agreements excluding pension/provident fund,
sick pay fund and risk benefits .

They define a General Assistant, make certain rules and agreements for them, but excludes them SPECIFICALLY BY NAME from the agreement.

Personally I am not convinced that a lone ranger (or a crackteam) behind a phone or on a magazine cover (respectively) can make rules and regs up as they feel like. The written law is the law and not some nbcei agent's opinion.

[ians]

As mentioned, the attachment seems incorrect maybe someone should identify the origin and date of the attachment.