End of negotiations on construction wages, they will increase by 6.2%

Prague - Negotiations regarding the collective bargaining agreement in construction have concluded. Wages for employees in construction companies will increase by at least 6.2 percent. After five unsuccessful meetings between the OS Construction union teams and the Union of Entrepreneurs in Construction (SPS), the head of the union, Stanislav Antoniv, and SPS President Václav Matyáš directly agreed on the increase in tariffs. Antoniv told ČTK today.
    "It's a compromise; we do not feel satisfied," said the union leader. The unions initially demanded a wage increase of 7.5 percent, while employers offered five. The head of the construction unions previously emphasized that their demand for wage tariffs is just a minimum and that even higher levels can be pursued at the level of company collective agreements. "In most companies, they will go higher," Antoniv expects.
    The unions initially also demanded an additional week of vacation. However, they ultimately only achieved a recommendation for an additional week of leave for employees, which is not mandatory for companies.
    At the level of individual construction firms, wage negotiations have already been concluded, for example, at Českomoravský cement, where wages are set to increase by seven percent. At Metrostav, employees can look forward to a 6.4 percent higher tariff, and at Skanska, they will receive as much as 13.5 percent more on their paychecks from the New Year. The higher increase there is due to a change in the wage system, whereby the so-called 14th salary is dissolved into the regular wage. In the company Strabag, negotiations about wages will not begin until February.
    The number of employees in construction companies with 20 or more employees has decreased by 2.2 percent compared to November 2006, according to the latest statistical data. Construction workers earned an average of 25,407 crowns per month, which is a 5.1 percent increase year-on-year. The average hourly wage increased by 4.4 percent year-on-year to 161 crowns. Labor productivity per worker increased by 9.1 percent.