Produban pays up

Telecoms & Financial Services March 6 2017

Members in Santander’s Produban subsidiary have voted by more than nine to one in favour of a CWU-brokered pay increase which provides everyone in membership with a fully consolidated rise of at least 2.2 per cent.

The deal – which achieved 94 per cent support in a ballot in which 74 per cent of members participated – secures high performers a 2.6 per cent increase, 2.4 per cent for those with an above expectation’ rating and starts to address pay anomalies adversely affecting some employees on legacy A&L contracts.

Following the company’s agreement to abolish the old Band H’ grade and move everyone in it to Band G, eight individuals have emerged as major winners – with one receiving a £5,000 increase.

Assistant secretary John East explains: “The CWU has long argued that the eight members in question were significantly underpaid, as the work they conduct is exactly the same as that conducted by G grade employees, and sometimes even F grade staff.

“This year’s pay talks provided the perfect opportunity to address this particular anomaly – and following CWU representations the company has agreed to abolish the lowest band, move everyone in it into the next band up and increase the minimum of that band from £22,000 to £27,000.

“The discussion then moved on to other anomalies, and the upshot is that the CWU and Produban have jointly agreed to consider possibility of a wider harmonisation of legacy A&L and Produban grading structures.

“In principle we believe that, assuming all of the necessary safeguards for individuals that we’d expect to see are put in place, this could provide the best way of dealing with inequalities of pay elsewhere in Produban. Additionally it would strengthen the case the CWU routinely makes for new work being brought into Carlton Park and Bootle – though it’s important to stress that there are potential sticking points that will need to be addressed before the CWU agrees to proceed with any such harmonisation

“We’d want to see pay scales that are transparent and public, and for the grading and job families within those scales to be fairly narrowly defined so that the outcome was a much more differentiated pay structure in which there is a clearly established rate for any given job. We would also expect protections to be put in place should any individual have a current salary falling outside of any new structure.

“The ball is now in Produban’s court, and we’re waiting to see what their thoughts as to what a harmonised structure could look like before committing to anything.”

In the meantime, members will receive their pay rises in their March pay packets.

Detailed Produban pay bulletins can be viewed online at www-cwu-org.www.cwu.org