FMB members vote for continuation of CITB levy under suspiction
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The CITB has won a vote for the continuation of the levy in suspicious circumstances after the FMB put is voters weight behind CITB giving them a majority of just one in the vote.
The FMB gave a final result 82 members of the trade body voted to keep the CITB’s levy paying powers compared to 81 who voted against.
Some small builders are fuming with the results of a vote on the levy after the 163 votes was cast from a potential pool of more than 5,000 levy paying member companies.
This has FMB members fuming as they were only given two weeks over the summer holidays to vote on an issue which sees thousands of pounds deducted from them annually to pay for CITB training.
The vote was enough for the FMB managing board to give its unanimous backing to another three-years of levy raising powers for the CITB.
Many construction companies have expressed their outrage at the way the voting has been handled.
Jon Thompson of Living Design and Build West Midlands commenting saying : “I fail to accept that the FMB should be allowed to give consent when they only managed to get 163 out of a possible 5,000 members to complete their survey.
“My company was not given the chance to vote and I feel like I have been robbed of my voice.
“We have paid a lot of money over the years to FMB, along with hundreds of other companies who feel the same way about the levy.
“It is unacceptable that they have made decisions on our behalf without giving us a chance to have our say”.
Perring Proerties Ltd based in Cornwall commented: “When you think that the FMB deliberately chose to conduct their survey over the summer it’s no wonder that they only managed 163 responses.
“It’s lazy and it makes a mockery of the people who they purport to represent”.
Another family roofing contractor from Buckinghamshire added: “The FMB has let its members down in the most appalling way.
“If they had conducted a proper survey and got a decisive outcome, Id accept it.
“But they haven’t. They will let the CITB continue to drain the industry based on a survey with 163 respondents and a majority of 1 in favour of the CITB.
“I hope the secretary of state sees through this sham”.
An FMB spokesperson commented: “We’re confident in the process we undertook and our intention is to be completely transparent.”
The FMB went on to say: “If the construction industry is to solve the skills crisis and train enough skilled workers to deliver the homes, schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure our society demands, the CITB must be totally transformed.
“The FMB will be holding the CITB to account over the coming months and years and if we do not see positive change within the organisation, and if the organisation does not achieve better outcomes, the FMB will recommend to its members that we remove our support during the next consensus process in three years’ time.”
