EPACE Divides The Spoils

by Stradbrook Sat Nov 08, 2008 13:45

I refer to my previous posting with regards to a father of a 4th year apprentice whose employer was struggling to keep the apprentice on, and the father offering to pay his wages to keep him on until the lad could finish his apprenticeship.

The update is that this 4th year apprentice finished up last Friday, and is now on the ever growing unemployment line.

Turns out his father could not afford to pay his wage which works out like this

39 hours 647.01
Employer PRSI 67.42
Employer Pension €30.54 (Without non required levies to EPACE and others)
Total cost €744.97 per week

Shame this poor 21 year old lad has bob hope and no hope of getting another employer to take him on so he can finish his apprenticeship.

The apprentice offered to go down to 3rd year rate, but his employer didn’t want to get caught by the vigilante’s in EPACE/TEEU so he declined the offer, in any event he just didn’t have the work for the lad.

Any chance EPACE Ltd/TEEU who priced this boy out of a job, and a career could throw some of their €802,370.00 that they had in the bank as of 31/12/07 (as stated on their filed accounts) to bail him out.??????????????????

And these people in EPACE and the TEEU claim to be protecting their members, if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.

But it’s not funny it’s the REAL WORLD, and those who profess to want to protect their members should get with the REAL WORLD.

SHAME ON YOU

by John McCoy Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:01

Just to make figures quoted above a little clearer

Money Paid out to TEEU from EPACE
2002 €4000
2003 €13000 plus €14500
2004 €6444 plus €42000
2005 €13500 plus €9500
2006 €60850
TOTAL to TEEU €163794

Money Paid out to AECI from EPACE
2002 €4000
2003 €10500 plus €7000
2004 €4000 plus €19500
2005 €8000 plus €2750
2006 €13700
TOTAL to AECI €69450

Money Paid out to ECA from EPACE
2002 €6500
2003 €8000 plus €7000
2004 €4000 plus €7000
2005 €4000
2006 €4000
TOTAL to AECI €40500

Profit made by EPACE after Payouts to TEEU, AECI and ECA

2001 €163815
2002 €65936
2003 €192166
2004 €137044
2005 €115525
2006 €76536
Total profit made in these years €587370

All this information is taken from the attached pdf s from Pensions and Conditions Ltd (EPACE)

Hope this makes things clearer

by Stradbrook Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:16

A contractor who is struggling told me yesterday his 3rd year apprentice’s father contacted him and asked him that if he could not afford to keep his son on he was prepared to pay him, i.e. the contractor the apprentices wages so the lad could finish his apprenticeship.

Should I report this to EPACE? Or does the father unlike the TEEU live in the real world.

by tomeile Tue Oct 07, 2008 17:57

John McCoy's report certainly seems to shine some light onto shady areas of the industry ,but in all truth it's a little hard for non- electricians to follow all the circuits and threads . Here’s a bit of a glossary I got from the web :
TEEU : Technical Engineering and Electrical Union
AECI : Association of Electrical Contractors Ireland
ECA : Electrical Contractors Association
R.E.A : Registered Employment Agreement
EPACE according to their website is an organization “formed under the auspices of the National Joint Industrial Council for the Electrical Contracting Industry. The primary objective of EPACE is to advise Electrical Contractors of their responsibilities under the Registered Employment Agreement (REA) and to ensure compliance with same.”
-------------------------------------
John’s report lists the “profits” of the TEEU AECI ECA ,but I’m not sure whether the amounts paid should be considered as profits rather than as fees paid to the organizations . I assume that John , Paul and Stradbrook think that these fees /profits are excessive ,but without more information on why they were paid it’s hard to judge.

by Stradbrook Tue Oct 07, 2008 15:45

The inception, operation and conduct of EPACE Ltd, and indeed the Construction Workers Pension Scheme reminds me very much of the true saying

“Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principal.”

Sums it all up really

by Paul McIntyre Mon Oct 06, 2008 20:07

It has now become clear the driving force behind the electricians REA is to line the pockets of the three parties who set it up. TEEU AECI and ECA have never let it out that they all have received indirect payments from enforcement of the agreement.

It is a totally wrong that these organisations profited while many good employers were put out of business for not complying with an agreement they had no part of.

It is sickening to see that TEEU officials put out the message that workers rights were their number one concern, when the real agenda was to line their own pockets

EXTRACT FROM TEEU NEWSLETTER
____________________________________________________________
"Keeping a close eye on Construction and Contracting"

"Despite the slow down (mainly outside the greater Dublin area) TEEU continues to negotiate competitive wages and conditions for our members in the contracting sector. Charlie Prizeman, National Industrial Officer, continues to visit sites throughout the state and has been successful in ensuring that our members in the electrical and mechanical contracting industry are not denied their entitlements".
_____________________________________________________________

Now that this racketeering has been well and truly exposed the main players should not be allowed to walk away Scott free. What they have done is fraud and these company directors should be made pay back the pension money they have taken.