The EEF withdrew from national collective bargaining in November 1989 but the existing agreements remained in operation. Where companies have in the past incorporated the terms of the national agreements into individual contracts of employment, those terms continue to apply until changed by agreement at company level.
EEF member companies may choose whether they wish to conform to the range of established substantive and procedural national agreements, negotiated in the past by the EEF with the CSEU and recognised staff unions, or whether to decide their own arrangements. In either case, EEF members should contact their EEF Association (EEF Associations) for help and guidance on recognition and collective bargaining issues.
EEF members that conform to the national agreements negotiated between the EEF and the unions accept the obligations of a range of agreements developed over many years. These agreements traditionally provided the framework within which companies operated their own domestic agreements.
There are two procedure agreements. One is with the CSEU on behalf of the various manual unions within the industry, and the other is with three staff unions (MSF, GMB/APEX partnership, and ACTS) on behalf of staff employees. These set the framework for union recognition and for collective bargaining.
All substantive issues - those relating to pay and conditions of employment - are now dealt with by individual companies on a plant by plant basis or as the individual company may decide. However, for manual workers, there still exists a range of national agreements that set minimum conditions of employment. These will be of relevance to 'conforming' member companies that choose to observe those national agreements. The relationship of collective agreements to employment contracts is discussed elsewhere in this Guide (resolution of disputes).
Companies that follow EEF national agreements should note that trade unions may seek improvements to, or changes in, any of the terms of national agreements through negotiation at domestic level. This section contains a summary of the main provisions of the principal national agreements between the EEF and the CSEU and its constituent unions. A list of all the national agreements is given at the end of this section.
For further details of the agreements, reference should be made to the EEF Handbook of National Agreements. Member companies are strongly advised to contact their EEF Association (EEF Associations) for detailed advice where any issue relating to these or any other National Agreement arises.