Have Your Say On Amey Pay: Company CFO Remarkable Profits Video Goes Viral!

Amey Rail boss tells your reps there's "no budget" to improve 4.21% pay offer while staff suffer cost of living crisis...

Meanwhile, leaked video goes viral after Company CFO admits Amey have made "remarkable" 25% more than they budgeted for!

It's your pay, have your say!

"The turnover of the core business was some £2.4 billion.

More remarkable is that this is almost £500 million, or

twenty five per cent, more than we had expected

when we put the budget together"

Andrew Nelson, Amey Chief Financial Officer

The Guardian - Amey Bosses Celebrated Profits While Offering Below Inflation Pay Rises

Last week, your reps recommended that you vote to reject the current offer and show support for a ballot for industrial action (click here for details).

Click here to have your say in our online referendum

Since our referendum opened, the Guardian published the story of a leaked video (available here) in which  the Amey Group CFO, Andrew Nelson, brags about making a "remarkable" and unexpected 25% increase in turnover compared to the company budget.

The article characterises Amey as hugely profitable company offering workers a 4.21% real terms pay cut that “would shame Scrooge” leading to widespread public condemnation. The resurfaced video has already caused some members to report that they had originally considered voting to accept the below inflation offer but were persuaded to think again by the CFO and have voted to reject the deal!

Throughout pay talks, your reps have explained to Amey's negotiators that TSSA members have given a mandate to expect the same principle as in previous years. Members are seeking a cost of living pay increase, with January RPI as the published measure of inflation at the 1 March anniversary date. This year, the reference RPI was 7.8%. RPI has since increased every month, with the July figure reaching 12.3%. Arguably every pound you earned last year is worth less than 88p today in comparison.

In March, after your pay increase was due, management set out an opening offer of 4.21% with a minimum increase "underpin" of £1,200,  which they described as "best and final". In a referendum, Members voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer, supporting industrial action as a last resort if the company failed to make an improved offer and citing the low value compared to RPI as the main reason for voting to reject. Reps then met the company to present the members' position and seek further talks. Your negotiating team invited the company to offer evidence to justify their position if they were unable to protect members' living standards with a decent offer that matched the increasing cost of living.

During pay meetings, the only attempt to justify the unprecedented gulf between the offer and the rate of inflation was that the budget has been set and the company is up for sale. Clearly, the leaked video makes any suggestion that members should settle for 4.21% even more hard to swallow!

Meanwhile, last week saw reports (BBC and Guardian) that Amey employees successfully negotiated pay increases of between 10% and 25% during a planned three week strike by GMB members employed as refuse workers. Amey Infrastructure Wales concluded pay talks with a 6% increase underpinned by a minimum increase of £1,800.

Members are urged to vote in our online pay referendum which closes at 2359 on Tuesday 30 August. Click here to have your say

"In a third statement on Friday, the company announced it had reached agreement with the bin workers in Surrey, adding: “Where we are in pay negotiations, we have made strong offers, in line with inflation, which maintain salaries at or above rates for other similar roles.”

Amey offered the Surrey bin collectors a 10% pay rise, or 25% for bin lorry drivers."

The Guardian - Amey Bosses Celebrated Profits While Offering Below Inflation Pay Rises

Members are urged to vote in our online pay referendum which closes at 2359 on Tuesday 30 August.
Click here to have your say

For background information on negotiations, visit TSSA - Find Your Company - Amey

 You can view the offer letter here. The key points are:

• A 4.21% increase to pay and agreed allowances, with a minimum salary increase of £1800, backdated to 1^st March 2022.
• No compulsory redundancies until 1^st June 2023.
• A commitment to review Amey’s internal policies.

Your Reps think this is the best offer that can be achieved through negotiation alone.  However, we recommend voting to reject it and supporting a ballot for industrial action.  Over nine years of collective bargaining at Amey, we have negotiated pay deals to keep wages very close to inflation, and we believe real pay should not be cut in real terms while Amey continues to return good profits.

If members vote to reject this offer we intend to ballot for industrial action, as we believe that this is the only remaining way to pressure management for a better deal.

This would be a postal ballot in which TSSA asks members to vote ‘yes’ to both strike action and action short of a strike (which could include refusing to cover additional duties, overtime bans, etc.).  For industrial action to be lawful, over 50% of votes cast and at least 40% of all eligible members must vote ‘yes’.  In the event of a successful ballot for industrial action, reps and TSSA officials will support members so that our action is coordinated and effective.

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