National Maintenance Agreement

WHY NATIONAL MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS SAVE YOU TIME, MONEY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS

National Maintenance Agreements establish standardized work practices that greatly improve a contractor's competitiveness in performing your rehabilitation and repair work. The cost saving features in the agreements are:

The contractor has the right to determine crew size eliminating needless, nonproductive craftworkers and standby crews
The work week is standardized so that all crafts begin work at the same time
All shifts are standardized for all crafts, resulting in up to 1 ½ additional hours of work time per day
Shift premiums are standardized at $.25 and $.50 per hour for afternoon and night shifts
All daily and Saturday overtime previously paid at double time is changed to time and one-half
Shift work of less than 5 days is permitted for all crafts without overtime
Industry Advancement Fund payments are at the employer's option

These features allow better work scheduling, prevent material delays, control stifling work practices, reduce work stoppages and eliminate featherbedding. The result is important savings.

Remember, contractors operating under the National Maintenance Agreements save you money when you use them...cost you nothing when you don't.

MANAGEMENT OPTIONS UNDER THESE NEW AGREEMENTS

The idea of a National Maintenance Agreement is not new. However, the agreements of today offer a fresh, new approach with several important advantages to owners.

An owner has no commitment
Owners are not required to guarantee any specific amount of repair or rehabilitation to the contractor they choose to use
The owner uses your contractor as work volume, own labor agreements and their contractor's prices warrant
National Agreements are available to all contractors legitimately engaged in repair work
The contractor owners select does not have to belong to any association or group
Owners can receive competitive bids because several contractors can have maintenance agreements covering the same work site

As one can readily see, all commitments are strictly between the contractor the owner uses and the building trades unions the contractor employs, thereby allowing the owner complete freedom to exercise management options.

While there are many sound reasons why owners should use contractors working under National Maintenance Agreements for repair and rehabilitation work, the most compelling reason is that, they can mobilize a trained work force utilizing unique specialized equipment that will get your job done, economically, efficiently and safely.

HISTORY OF NATIONAL MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS

In June 1970, the National Erectors Association appointed a National Maintenance Agreement Committee to explore with several international building trades unions, the feasibility of negotiating National Maintenance Agreements.

It was evident, to the committee that building trades contractors were continually losing repair and rehabilitation work. The contractor inability to control unwarranted work stoppages, stifling work practices, poor scheduling, material delays and featherbedding were making them less and less competitive in the industrial maintenance field. Alert union leadership also recognized this problem and joined with the association to find a solution.

By May 1971, the first National Maintenance Agreement was signed. For practical purposes, however, an agreement with one craft was useless.

Between May 1971, and March, 1972, the committee met with three other international building trades unions and reached accords on the terms of three more National Maintenance Agreements.

In April 1972, the first work under the terms of the Agreements was undertaken. Since then the committee has successfully negotiated additional maintenance agreements, bringing to 14 the number of international unions signatory to the National Erectors Association's National Maintenance Agreement.

THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS POLICY COMMITTEE, INC.

Early in the forming of these National Maintenance Agreements, it was obvious that such a departure from the traditional construction agreement would have far reaching effects and would require an impartial body to review complaints, grievances and disputes.

As a result of this foresight, the unions and the association formed the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee.

The committee consists of 14 Contractor and 14 international Union representatives. Contractor representatives are, in each case, either responsible officials or actual owners of contracting firms. International union representatives are; in their respective unions immediately below the General President level. In 1981, the NMAPC became the first national labor-management forum in the construction industry to be incorporated.

The National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee meets quarterly to resolve disputes that arise under the agreements. It is the only agency that is empowered to interpret the agreements. The decisions and judgments reached are put into bulletin form and transmitted to contractor operating under the agreements and to all signatory unions.

The aim of the NMAPC is to establish uniformity between all unions. Considering the vast scope of the task to be performed by the Policy Committee, its accomplishments, while not perfect, have been significant. Work stoppages under National Maintenance Agreements have been held to a minimum and are far below industry norms.

For further questions, please contact the IUOE Construction Department at 202-778-2667.

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