Amey Company news

Change to monthly pay day

Members who are paid monthly will have received a letter from Amey recently notifying them of a change of the day when salaries are paid into bank accounts. You will be aware that Amey intends to bring this change in from 15th March 2010, after which members will be paid next on 27th April. A number of members have raised issue with this matter so we have made representations to the company at a recent meeting.

The company has undertaken to respond on the following matters:

 Institute a bridging loan arrangement for all staff, removing any need to prove financial hardship with all the difficulties that that will produce for individuals
 Alternatively, at the end of March pay two weeks salary with a further four weeks paid on 27th April

I have had confirmation from the company that they have escalated this issue to Amey Group and await their response.

CEFA Issues

Over the past few months I have received a series of complaints from members in Amey Consulting in relation to the CEFA contract, including:

 Threats of marginal poor performance
 Withdrawal of over time for alleged poor performers
 Failure to adhere to poor performance procedure
 Uncertainty of targets
 Inadequacy of ALARM
 No pay increase for former Atkins staff or ex Mouchel Managers
 Congestion charge payments
 Pensions Issues

A meeting with Amey Consulting took place on 20th January 2010 to address all of these issues and I can now report:

 Threats of marginal poor performance. Following strong representations from TSSA, there will be no further threats of marginal poor performance which we have told the company we regard as a management bullying tactic because not only is it outside the poor performance procedure but also because there are no agreed targets. Threats are often accompanied by the withdrawal of overtime and no formal records are ever kept of staff treated in this way. Any further threats should be reported immediately to either your staff reps or myself;
 Staff regarded as poor performers will be dealt with in accordance with the company poor performance policy and afforded representation;
 Over time will not be stopped until the correct poor performance procedures have been completed;
 Management confirmed that targets have not been set for individuals in Year 1 of CEFA. Targets are being formulated for Year 2 and agreement has been reached that TSSA will be involved in consultation on those targets before they are applied to staff. Clearly, when we have any further information (expected after April 2010) we will ensure that it is widely shared with members
 We made the case for a pay award along the lines of the Amey deal from 2009 for both former Atkins staff and ex Mouchel managers and to be applied retrospectively (neither group has received a pay increase in 2009/10). The company confirmed that they are seeking authority to make a payment (backdated from September 2009 for ex Atkins staff) but are still awaiting sign off;
 On the congestion charge in London, we put the case that some staff are having to pay it themselves but also that when staff are fined for failures to pay, the company provides no assistance. In response, the company stated they are trying to set up an automatic payment system that would be paid directly by the company but in the meantime there are named individuals to whom staff can go to to arrange payment of the charge when a bill is received. Issues around fines should be taken up with line managers and, if necessary, be the subject of a grievance;
 For pensions, we raised issues in relation to former Atkins staff who have queried whether the records held by RPMi at Darlington are correct and whether previous service has been retained. We also raised concerns about how much of the TUPE transfer Amey has advised RPMi about. The company has confirmed that it will be rearranging the cancelled pensions road show for the former Atkins staff in the South East (to include both RPS and Amey pension scheme members) and that RPMi are aware of all those who are members of RPS who transferred under TUPE. If you are a member of RPS and have any concerns about your pension you should contact RPMi at Darlington in the first instance.