11 January 2006

e-bulletin – The New Way Forward

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very "Happy New Year" and welcome you to our new look e-bulletin service. We are always striving to find better ways of communicating with our members and hope you find this new service helpful and informative.

Every two weeks you will be able to read about the latest news concerning employment relations, health and safety, education and training, as well as learning about all the seminars and training events in the coming months. Going electronic will also allow us to send important updates as soon as we have them, rather than waiting for the next edition of our information bulletin.

We believe this is an important innovation to help us keep you better informed both with what we are doing on your behalf and how we can help you. In this issue you can read about new regulations on age discrimination that will affect every business in the region from October, latest news on the energy crisis, the latest EEF pay bulletin and a link to ‘engineering connections’ website where you will find apprentices who are seeking employment.

I would further urge you to use the feedback section provided as it is important we hear from our member companies. Let us know, any views you may have on anything contained within the bulletin, or indeed any point of concern for your business that you think we can help with.

Once again let me wish you all a prosperous 2006.

Ian Smith

Chief Executive