Union resolve pays off at Manx Telecom
31st January 2012
Members at Manx Telecom have voted by almost nine to one
to accept a revised pay offer, which will see salaries rise by 6.1%
by April 1.
The deal concludes a difficult pay round in which the CWU was
forced to ballot for industrial action to budge the company's
private equity owners from their previous 'final' offer of
just 2% in the current pay year.
With workers signalling an overwhelming willingness to strike
against an effective pay cut, talks resumed in November -
facilitated by Manx Industrial Relations Services which is the
island's equivalent of ACAS, the mainland's industrial
arbitration and conciliation service.
Two days of intensive negotiations started with the company's
initial restatement of its 2% 'final' offer - but a
possibility for progress emerged after Manx Telecom negotiators
indicated a willingness to consider a two-year deal.
Assistant secretary Davie Bowman
explains: "In principle, the CWU is not opposed to multi-year
deals, so we were happy to explore that if it helped move us in the
right direction - but initially the company wanted to introduce a
whole number of strings in order to finance any increase in the pay
bill.
"These included the reduction of overtime rates, the
introduction of a bonus scheme linked to the pay negotiations, the
freezing of incremental payments and reductions in various
flexitime elements - all of which were simply unacceptable to the
CWU.
"The CWU consistently resisted these strings, with a counter
position that - with the next pay date of April 1 now looming large
- members needed an uncomplicated settlement that rewarded their
contribution."
Throughout the talks the union's negotiating team - which
included local branch officers Bill Hogg and Sean Brennan - took
detailed soundings from members by way of special meetings, which
were attended by almost 130 members over two nights.
"These meetings were spectacularly helpful, as the strength of
the turnout meant that we were able to go back into the talks
making it absolutely clear that we were articulating just what
members were telling us," said Davie.
The upshot was the company's agreement for a 3% rise in the
current year (backdated to April 2011) with a further 3% on April 1
2012 - with no strings attached.
While the company is still maintaining that efficiencies will be
required to fund the pay deal, the CWU has insisted that any
changes to working practices, resourcing numbers or terms and
conditions will be subject to the normal consultative processes.
"Above everything, we've made it absolutely clear that any
future discussions are not linked in any way to the pay
settlement," stresses Davie.
The company's revised offer was duly reported back to members
the same evening and - following on from strong support at the
meeting - was formally accepted in a secret ballot.
Davie concludes: "We have no doubt that 2012 will be a
challenging year, but the level of solidarity and engagement of the
CWU's Manx Telecom membership, during these protracted and
difficult pay discussions, stand us in good stead for the future.
"We've successfully demonstrated to the company's
private equity owners that, while the CWU is always prepared to
negotiate positively with the company, the union and its members
need to be treated with respect."
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