22
APRIL 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
CAROLINE EXITS THE
MURPHY GROUP
Caroline Murphy has announced her
resignation as a main board director of the
Murphy Group, one of the largest firms in
the building and civil engineering industry.
In her exit statement, she
said: “Following eight years
with the Murphy Group, I
have formally decided to exit
the company.
My father John Murphy, remains
a great inspiration to me. I was delighted to have seen the company
grow in strength during the years
I worked to embed his values
into the structure of the Murphy
Group. I was proud to see those
efforts recognised independently
too, when I was named as one of
the top five private business women in the UK.
The natural extension of my
father’s values in my view, is the
development of the Murphy Group
into an Employee-Owned structure.
I believe the future of his legacy
is best entrusted into the capable
hands of its people. I have been
vocal in my belief that leadership
of this business must include those
working on the ground if it is to
continue to deliver for the clients
who have placed their trust in us
over the years.
Taking into account the direction
of the board’s interests, the current
structure holds no space for me to
develop this process further.
I wish all within the Murphy
Group the greatest success for the
future. I hope the company goes
on to represent my father and continues to provide work and opportunity for many years to come.”
Caroline is the daughter of John
Murphy, the late Irish founder of
The Murphy Group, whose own
story is the stuff of legend and
mostly untold.
‘Caroline is
a passionate
commentator
against blacklisting
in the construction
industry’
London-based Caroline (31)
trained in civil engineering at
the University of Bristol. As
soon as she could, she joined
the family firm going on to become a highly successful operator, at director level, doubling
the turnover of the business
from £250m to £500m in the
space of just four years. She
was named by PriceWaterhouse
Coopers as one of the UK’s top
five private business women.
John Murphy made it clear that
he wished to entrust the future
of the business to Caroline
when she was named by him as
Vice Chairman.
BATJIC Talks Agree
Two Year Pay Deal
The Building and
Allied Trades Joint
Industrial Council
(BATJIC) has agreed a
two year pay deal following the successful
conclusion of negotiations between the
Federation of Master
Builders (FMB) and
Unite the Union.
The deal involves
variable wage rises for
the standard wage rates
averaging 2.5%, to come
into effect from 30th June
2014, with a further set
of rises averaging 3% to
come into effect from
29th June 2015. In addition, it has been agreed
that the annual holiday
entitlement will increase
by one day, as of 29th
June 2015, from 21 days
to 22 days, making a total
of 30 days including public holidays.
In recognition of the
industry’s need to attract
and retain young talent,
young adult operatives
and all apprentices and
trainees will benefit from
a 3% rise in hourly wages
as of 30th June 2014, followed by a further 3% rise
in June 2015. Hourly skills
rates, as set by Working
Rule 1C, will also rise by
3% for each year of the
deal.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “This
deal reflects the cautious
optimism and the desire
for long term stability now
present in the industry. The
construction sector is finally
seeing consistent growth for
the first time in five years.
Yet, this growth is from a
very low base and remains
relatively constrained for
many of our members.”
Berry added: “The FMB’s
latest State of Trade Survey
showed growth in workloads and new enquiries
slowed during the last three
months of 2013, output in
domestic repair and maintenance sector, in which the
majority of FMB members
work, fell during 2013 and
we are still seeing upward
pressure on output prices
driven by rising materials
costs.”
Berry concluded: “However, our members are now
looking to the future with
expectations of growing
workloads. Therefore, it
is right that, after some
difficult years, this agreement recognises this with a
significant pay increase for
hard-working employees.
The two year nature of the
deal will provide certainty and reassurance for
employers and employees
alike.”
Caroline is a passionate commentator against blacklisting in the
construction industry. She has long
since supported the worker, having
been employed at ground level
herself and seen first-hand how
essential health and safety is.
www.cmurphy.org
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