Strong Virgin Media results should lead to pay rise, says CWU
8th February 2012
Reacting to Virgin Media's end of year results today
(Wednesday) the Communication Workers Union welcomes the strong
financial performance of the company - with annual net income
tripling and profits at £75.9 million for the year - and urges
for staff to be rewarded with decent pay rises for their
contribution.
The union welcomes the creation of 620 directly-employed jobs in
Swansea and Manchester but points out that many of these have come
at the expense of more than 400 call centre staff in Liverpool who
are losing their jobs in April. CWU remains concerned at the
treatment of these workers who now face redundancy.
Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary, said:
"We welcome Virgin Media's strong financial results which
are proof of the company's success. They reflect the hard work
that employees have put in day in day out over the last year to
contribute to that success, and we want to see ordinary Virgin
Media staff sharing in the success of the company.
"It is also welcome to see the company focusing on its
customer-facing staff with the announcement that only these grades
will receive a basic salary increase this year, although we expect
all employees to receive bonus payouts of some description.
"CEO Neil Berkett has written to staff today expressing his
gratitude for their hard work. We would like to see this gratitude
reflected in a pay rise higher than the current offer of 2%.
"The creation of 620 jobs is of course welcome, but it
comes at the expense of 435 jobs in Liverpool where Virgin Media is
closing their Albert Dock site.
"These are solid results from a successful company which
can afford to pay its staff more and keep jobs in Liverpool."
Total revenue for the telecoms and media group for the year 2011
was just under £4 billion - up 3% compared with 2010.
Operating Cash Flow was up 5.3% and Free Cash Flow was up 20.7%
compared with 2010.
CWU represents Virgin Media engineers and has members across customer-facing roles in the company.
If you work for Virgin Media and would like to join
the CWU click <here >
