Building Industry Council Planned

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31627, 13 March 1968, Page 1

Building Industry Council Planned

The Canterbury Master Builders’ Association has invited all sections of the building industry to attend a meeting on March 27 to consider the formation of a council of the building industry of Canterbury.

The council would co-ordin-ate and foster all matters and interests of the industry both in Christchurch and the whole country. The executive officer of the association (Mr C. M. Wishart) said yesterday that a building industry council was formed in Auckland 20 years ago because a local forum was needed at which points of general concern could be discussed by various sectors of the industry. The council now represented more than 25 Auckland organisations, and its work was in the hands of committees.

The important thing about such a council was its ability to speak with a single voice on matters of general policy affecting the whole industry.

It could provide the means of discussing problems impersonally, thus preventing them from developing into major obstacles. The council could start many local projects requiring joint action such as the

appointment of research officers, studies of sub-contract forms, and schedules of day work charges. The council could also speak to the Government on matters of national concern. It could be a place where difficulties existing between two trades could be discussed openly and solutions amicably reached. The council would avoid discussion or action on industrial matters, including awards for sections of the industry rnd union matters. No individual firm would have any rights on the council, and all business discussed and action taken would be on representations from affiliated organisations. Mr Wishart said the Auckland council had achieved recognition by Government and local authorities and was the only non-national organisation represented on the committees of the Standards Institute and the Technicians’ Certification Authority.