Engineering construction staff reject new national agreement terms including scrapping morning tea breaks

Engineering construction workers have voted to reject the terms of a new national agreement that includes a provision allowing the scrapping of the 10-minute morning tea break.

The result of the union ballot raises the spectre of industrial action just when the sector is anticipating a record workload.

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The Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA) said the mid-morning cuppa had always been “a major stumbling block” to improving the sector’s productivity.

A spokesman for the ECIA said employers were due to meet “to consider what the next step will be”.