NEWS.CATEGORY: Industrial
Xeiad Pay Referendum. Reps Recommend You Vote "Yes" To Accept Improvements Negotiated By Your Reps
All Xeiad staff are invited to take part in our survey on the company's pay offer of a 5.5% increase on pay and allowances backdated to 1 March, a no compulsory redundancies agreement and a commitment to extend collective bargaining across Xeiad Rail.
See the new offer in full.
Your reps recommend that you vote "YES" to accept the offer.
Click the link to have your say: Xeiad Pay Referendum - Survey
Everyone's invited to have a say
Because formal collective bargaining only currently applies to those staff who transferred from Amey to Xeiad under TUPE the formal referendum process to decide our response to the company and next steps in negotiations will be determined by TSSA members covered by collective bargaining. However, the company have agreed that the same terms will apply to all Rail staff, and the extension of collective bargaining will have the greatest direct benefit to those without TUPE protections so all staff are invited to participate and share their views on the offer.
Your reps met senior managers in late March to discuss our claim for improvements to pay and conditions but did not receive a formal written offer until 16 May after we wrote to advise that unless members received a formal offer to consider you would have no choice but enter into a dispute with the company. Reps received a formal offer on 16 May which they met to discuss soon after.
Reps sought improvements to original offer
See the original offer in full.
Your reps noted that the original offer of a 5.5% increase on salary, backdated to 1 April rather than to the 1 March pay anniversary this year would only give a 5% increase on 2022 salaries. The company obviously want to change the pay anniversary for commercial reasons but your reps were clear that they would have to offer members a substantial incentive to consider agreeing to a contractual change that would make you worse off in the first year. When inflation is at a forty year high, members' support for an achievable offer on this point seemed unrealistic.
Reps welcomed the positive statements in the initial offer on job security and extending collective bargaining, but the company fell short of any firm commitments or guarantees and could ultimately be kicked into the long grass or withdrawn without Xeiad breaking the terms of their offer.
Your reps gave much consideration to the discrepancy between the offer of 5% this year and the January RPI figure. This has always been used as the basis of our Amey pay claim because it is the most recent at the anniversary date, at 7.8% in 2022. They also recognised that the 5% figure was the greatest increase in a single year for some time so members may be closer to accepting the increase than to supporting an industrial dispute.
While members are entitled to expect negotiations to seek to maintain living standards and improve pay and conditions, your reps considered that a genuinely substantial increase that reached the level of inflation would probably be achievable only through comprehensive support for a campaign of industrial action. Support for a strike had been tested and was clear from members in employers such as Bridgeway Consulting, where industrial relations were at rock bottom after the company ripped up collective agreements, refused to offer any pay rise and told staff they would be better on competitive performance based personal contracts. However, it was not immediately clear whether members at Xeiad had a similar appetite for industrial action if negotiations did not deliver huge improvements.
Your reps agreed that Xeiad would be likely to breach employment law if they imposed the terms of their deal in May without giving your union an opportunity to consult members and reach a decision.
They would seek to negotiate improvements to the offer to either increase the value substantially, or to backdate the 5.5% to 1 March, to give a formal commitment to no compulsory redundancies to protect members' job security, and to give a deadline for negotiations and a firm commitment to agreeing an extended collective bargaining agreement.
Your reps agreed that if Xeiad made an improved offer on the above terms, they would put the deal to a members' vote and recommend that you vote to accept the offer.
Xeiad respond with improved offer
After discussing details of the reps' counter-offer and putting a formal position in writing to the company, Xeiad made a revised offer in writing which includes all of the improvements your reps were seeking, backdated to 1 March and to be implemented if and when our union is in a position to agree after members have a say. Clearly, the reps' commitment to recommend the offer if it included the necessary improvements was a benefit to the company which could build decent industrial relations and conclude negotiations amicably rather than descend into a potentially acrimonious dispute.
Members and potential members at Xeiad may have already calculated that for most staff, the negotiated improvements to the offer on this year's pay alone are likely to be greater than the cost of a year's TSSA membership if the deal is agreed. This would give an immediate benefit for those not yet covered by collective bargaining who want to have a say in our union and in future negotiations, health and safety and other collective matters as well as help and support from your reps at work when you need it.
If you are not already a member, please join today and get involved here: Join Us | TSSA
Please share this newsletter with your colleagues and encourage them to vote.