where is this industry going?

[murdock]

i see they are now moving away from the eca...why i couldnt tell you...but going to voltex electrical wholesalers...why not all the electrical wholesalers...this just seems like there is a little skull duggery going on and someone if gona be filling their pockets...this is as bad as the move to the AIA...what next?

this is a clear indication that it is becoming about the money...why is the DOL not taking the responsibilty...they dont have the knowledge or skills to police the electrical industry?

it seems like the eca no longer have the support of the electrical contractors and maybe it is an indication that they are on their way out...they just dont seem to have a voice anymore...it seems the AIA have more say in the industry than the ECA and they just a small group of contractors who seem to have the DOL right where they want them...

[Dave A]

i see they are now moving away from the eca...why i couldnt tell you...but going to voltex electrical wholesalers...

You lost me. They? Who? What?

[murdock]

the electrical contractors board (ECB)

you must have received the email about the road show...after taking the time to read it from top to bottom noted that they could be doing the coc electronically in the future and hard copies can be purchased from voltex.

i dont understand why we have the DOL..AIA..ECB etc etc...it must be another prooccess ...why not make the DOL responsible for everything...the country is crying out for employment yet the only people not employing are goverment organisation like the DOL...they could create thousands of "secure jobs" for suitable qualified people of all colours...free of corruption which seems to be the norm when work is outsourced...untilise all the govermant apprentice schools which are fully equiped and sitting empty ...creating more employment...more skills etc etc...

am i missing something...the railway apprentice school were i did my training could easily train in excess of 2500 appies at any given time...it is fully equipped and had all the skilled lectureres it needed...yet they all took packages to make space for beee and now the training centre is empty with a total of 250 appies country wide...this goverment needs to get over its self and more froward...as long as they are restriciting white people from employment with beee so are they restricting the skills and quality of training...we need to look past the colour of peoples skin and take advantage of the skills available to assist to get black and white kids educated and skilled

let the past be exactly that...we dont need freedom fighters anymore...so stop protecting people like mcbride and put him in jail where he belongs...or send him to north africa where they need cowards like him to blow up innocent people while he hides miles away...we need educated people with the balls to take on the country and change it for the better not dwell on the past and use the past as an excuse for every mistake and misfortune encountered.

[Dave A]

Aah yes. Arrived after my last check of emails for the day.

Effectively it's farming out the "offline" registration and CoC form sales activities, and I can see why Voltex would be interested.

As long as Voltex doesn't start selling CoC's to all and sundry, I don't see a problem.

[murdock]

just received an email from the ecb...with the rates for registration and the cost for cocs...lets hope they stay like that and dont follow the pertol price trend.

can someone please explain to why we have so many diffrent organisation within one industry...DOL...ECB...ECA...AIA...and of course my favourite at the moment...the NBCEI...surely if they made all these one organisation..they could then sort out the industry get all the contractors to pay one levy for everything...go to one building to sort out issues...have one data base to monitor the industry and all the crooks in it...have one set of rules...with one technical team based in the same building to assist contractors with technical equiries and regulations...control the wage increases and set a standard...hire the correct people with suitable qualifications to carry out their duties...and most important steer the industry in the right directions...i suppose i can dream...i suppose i can dream

[murdock]

so far i have received it in 2 official languages i wonder if the other 7 are still coming

[Dave A]

can someone please explain to why we have so many diffrent organisation within one industry...DOL...ECB...ECA...AIA...and of course my favourite at the moment...the NBCEI...

They all have different roles.

DOL is the responsible government department for regulation of the activities of the industry. (I emphasise activities because they're also the department responsible for employer/employee affairs, worker safety affairs, the national skills development strategy and all that comes with it, UIF... but that's applicable across the board).

ECA is the trade association/organised employer representative body (although at times they have appeared more like a closed shop trade union for wiremen - a lot less nowadays, to be fair).

NBCEI is the NGO formed between the employer representative body(s) and employee representative body(s) to administer the execution of the collective agreement between these two bodies (at least officially - the real agenda is probably a lot more than that).

The AIA is the attempt to privatise the inspectorate job that the DoL should have been doing.

I suggest the ECB was originally an attempt to cover gaps in execution by DoL - and its role going forward now that it no longer executes contractor registrations and CoC issuing - well that might be a good question.

[murdock]

and so the plot thickens...according to the sparks magazine...i quote..."the eca has now been given permission.....to produce and sell pads of certificates of compliance/test reports to all memebers" @20 for R40 in vat...and "each certificate comprises four pages,so photocopying and filing will once again be easy...at least the up sid eis less trees to cut down.

now the big question...will the 6 page coc/test report still be valid and for how long?

the eca test report will have the eca logo on the back...which will state by eca memebers only...anyone know if this test report will be worth more than the ones purchased at voltex?

[AndyD]

the eca test report will have the eca logo on the back...which will state by eca memebers only...anyone know if this test report will be worth more than the ones purchased at voltex?

On the black market maybe....

[murdock]

as a customer i would be a little nervous...considering the eca is there to protect the electrical contractor and not the customer hense the name ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION...it is amazing how people can portray something as being there for you by showing the hand of safety etc but in fact has nothing to do with the customer or the consumer protection act...the reality is that if you report a contractor for a violation under the consumer protection act...the ECA will be there to represent "the contractor" NOT "the consumer"....some food for thought the next time for rush out and use a member of the eca...

the eca

dont go out and do random checks on their regisitered contractors to verify any form of consistancy when it comes to quality or conformacy with the regulations and standards...

they dont keep a log of COC s issued and randomly checks on the COCs to verify if they are even filling them out correctly never mind if the inspection has been carried out correctly...i do understand...and they make it very clear that they are not there to police the industry...but surely if you want the public to trust that your contractors are doing their work correctly...you as an organisasion need to take some form of responsibilty for their actions...much like the iso 9000 quality standards

they dont do spot check on the contractors to make sure they are using suitably qualified staff on sites...in fact you have to complain to them and if they have someone available which has not been the case for a period of time to due to their technical team being busy with others stuff

there are many others but i will leave it here for now...

[Dave A]

and so the plot thickens...according to the sparks magazine...i quote..."the eca has now been given permission.....to produce and sell pads of certificates of compliance/test reports to all memebers" @20 for R40 in vat...and "each certificate comprises four pages

Now that opens some doors compared to the way things used to be.

I wonder how well this has been thought through, because I see possible unintended consequences.

[murdock]

i look forward to the road show

[Dave A]

Me too. Although they haven't set a date for Durban yet

Hopefully they'll get to it soon.

[murdock]

maybe we should put together a questionare before hand...so that by the time the road show rolls into town we have a list of questions to put froward on the day of the road show...and start a new thread?

[Sparks]

Hi all, weird, the notice I got of the roadshow had no details other than the price and dates, also that booking is essential. I would appreciate it if someone could forward me the one with the omitted details.

AIA and DOL are playing football Murdock. I have put their reports in the whistle blowers forum but, neither have taken steps to have JP Bornman's licence revoked.

Our trade is no longer noble, it is headed down the sewer.