At its last meeting, the Telecoms Sectoral Executive reviewed the Service Order Incentive Scheme. 

While it is fair to say that not all Branches support the present scheme as their preference is for overtime or because they view it as divisive, it was still the belief of the NEC that there is enough merit to the scheme to continue with it. The voluntary nature of the scheme means that nobody is forced to operate it while considerable additional earnings are being realised by members who support the scheme in many areas in the country.

 Operating the scheme has also given the NEC the opportunity to make ongoing improvements and it is now intended to further examine how targets are set with particular reference to the impact of absence on team performance.  It was also felt that the experience gathered by operating the scheme would stand us in good stead as we prepare for the wider negotiations and as we examine the feasibility of extending the scheme on a voluntary basis into other parts of the Access Network area.

Therefore the Executive has agreed that the scheme as presently constructed should continue until the end of the next financial quarter.