The shortage of people affects wage negotiations in construction

Prague - The shortage of workers in construction significantly impacts this year's wage negotiations in the sector. "This should be our advantage," said today to ČTK the chairman of the Construction Trade Union Stanislav Antoniv. The unions are demanding an increase in nominal wages by 7.5 percent in the sectoral collective agreement, recommending a target of eight percent at the level of individual companies. Representatives of construction firms also acknowledge the influence of the labor shortage on the form and level of wages.
    "For several years, we have been increasing wages year-on-year approximately equally - by five percent for blue-collar professions and by three percent for technical and managerial employees. Collective negotiations are currently underway, and there are likely to be some interesting changes in the wage system," stated ČTK spokesman Ondřej Šuch from Skanska.
    Dana Koubová from the construction company Podzimek warned against larger wage increases. "Partially yes, but increasing wages to the point where the price of construction work would jump would be counterproductive. Moreover, we are already not among the countries with the lowest wages, and we could find ourselves in a situation where foreign developers leave our country, and suddenly, there would be enough workers," Koubová believes. The company Metrostav does not yet feel any extraordinary pressures to raise wages.
    Syner offers personal valuation and various benefits on top of basic wages to its core employees. "This applies to both laborers and specialized professions. These people are simply missing in the Czech market, and we are starting to address the situation through employment agencies and foreigners," stated Martin Borovička, the CEO of Syner, to ČTK.
    "We feel the shortage of workers in blue-collar construction professions - the demand for bricklayers, concrete workers, ironworkers, plumbers, heating engineers, etc. is extreme, and vocational schools are producing up to two orders of magnitude fewer people than the market can absorb," said Šuch to ČTK. From other qualified professions, Skanska recruits around 120 qualified employees from Czech secondary and higher education institutions each year to meet its needs. According to Šuch, Skanska is currently feeling the labor shortage more indirectly, as it struggles to find suppliers for certain construction work at the peak of the season.
    "It's difficult, but almost all of our technicians are currently dealing with this issue. Previously, it was enough to place an advertisement; today, that’s no longer sufficient," describes Koubová the challenges of her firm Podzimek with missing employees.
    "Today, the 'shortage of workers in construction' is mostly understood as a lack of auxiliary workers from Ukraine. That is not the case, as there is a shortage not only in labor professions but also (or rather especially) in high school and university graduates," described the situation at Metrostav its spokesman František Polák.
    According to him, the impacts of the employee shortage are currently being mitigated, but if the situation continues, Metrostav would have to limit the acceptance of new contracts. The situation is being addressed primarily through active collaboration with high schools and support for apprentices in vocational schools.
    "The specific impacts of the employee shortage are clear - deadlines for completing contracts are extending, there is increasing pressure to raise wages, and last but not least, the workload of some employees is rising," said Vlasta Končelová from Geosan Group to ČTK.
    The flow of labor migration from countries to the east of the Czech borders is also decreasing. Nevertheless, foreign workers form an indispensable part of Czech construction, complementing the missing domestic employees.
    According to Jaroslav Kux from the Research Institute for Labor and Social Affairs, foreign workers make up nine to ten percent of the workforce on Czech construction sites. Including foreign employees working illegally, however, according to Kux, this number can be up to twice as high. "According to some estimates, for every legally employed foreigner, there is up to one illegally employed foreigner, which would mean that in this sector, foreign workers actually account for up to one-fifth of total employment in the sector," said Kux.
    In the first nine months of this year, average wages in construction, according to the Czech Statistical Office, increased nominally by 8.9 percent and in real terms by 6.6 percent year-on-year.