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Pay update no 25

19 July 2010

There have been a number of developments in our ongoing dispute with the department over pay.

Attempts to reach a negotiated settlement to our 2008 pay dispute

Our negotiating team has met on a number of occasions with the department to seek a negotiated settlement to our dispute over pay, principally around the arbitrary reduction of the E1 and E2 pay band maximums. Unfortunately the department’s financial situation has meant that there is no money available to address our legitimate concerns (see letter from Heather Smith below).

The group executive committee (GEC) are still exploring other options to resolve this dispute and will be taking forward the proposal to participate in a JEGS exercise for staff in the pay protection zone. We will also seek assurances that the pay protection allowance will continue post the period of the current pay offer.

E1 and E2 independent grievance appeal panels (IGAP)

Following the rejection by the department of the grievances brought by members affected by the arbitrary reduction of the E1 and E2 pay band maximums, a number of members have taken their cases to an independent grievance appeal panel.

We will be seeking to persuade each hearing that the arbitrary reduction of the E band pay maximums was an unfair and unjustified attack on the lowest paid staff within the department and no way to reward the loyalty and hard work of these staff.

The GEC will be supporting members at these IGAPs, with Rob Bowers and KC Jones attending the hearings to assist affected members.

E1 and E2 employment tribunals


As a result of further legal advice from an employment law barrister, the GEC reluctantly took the decision to withdraw the employment tribunal cases over the reduction of the E1 and E2 pay band maximums. The barrister’s view was that although the changes were unreasonable, it would be difficult to prove to a tribunal that there had been a single, consistent pay policy in force over time.

This constant changing of pay systems would make it difficult to demonstrate that there had been a precise custom or practice which has been consistently followed in respect of progression, as the rate at which employees progressed through the scale and the factors such as performance which determined their progression have changed over time.

Consequently the barrister advised that there was not a reasonable chance of success in the case. Further he was concerned that losing the employment tribunal case would set a damaging precedent and advised that further negotiations seems a preferable route at the moment.

The GEC accepted this advice to protect our union from potential legal costs from the department.

However this is not the end of the dispute. The GEC will be considering further options and our negotiators will be taking forward the objective of reversing these cuts into the 2011 MoD pay negotiations.

Civil service pay freeze

Since the chancellor’s budget announcement of a two year pay freeze for all public sector workers earning more than £21,000, further details of how this will impact civil servants have been issued by the Cabinet Office.

The MoD has confirmed that the third year of the 2008 pay offer will be paid, in full, from August 2010, along with the bonus for the previous performance year. However bonus payments for 2010/11 may be further affected by the pay freeze.

The £21,000 figure (pro rata for part time staff) is calculated using basic pay plus all skills and location allowances (i.e. recruitment and retention allowances for MOD).

Staff earning less than £21,000 will receive a minimum £250 increase in each year. Departments are being encouraged to ensure that the lowest paid receive higher increases than that, subject to affordability.

It should be noted that within the MoD, as with the rest of the civil service, almost half the staff are paid less than £21,000 (the civil service median salary is £22850).

Our pay negotiators will be seeking early talks with the MOD to determine how the pay freeze will be implemented in this department.

Our union does not accept that the pay freeze is inevitable and so we will be drawing together a bargaining agenda and campaign strategy on pay, in consultation with the national union and in line with motion A3 agreed at this year’s group conference.

We will be holding meetings with members to discuss this strategy moving into the autumn and will produce further pay updates as our campaign takes shape.

 

 

 

 

Letter from Heather Smith

 

When we spoke last week I agreed that I would set out in writing a proposal for resolution of the dispute about the reduction in Band E maxima.

I have, as you asked, sought the views of PUS on the provision of additional money to resolve the dispute. As I suspected, he has confirmed that in the current climate no new money can be made available in-year for civilian pay. You are, of course, aware that the final year of the 2008 pay award will be implemented in August. This is very good news for staff and ensures that the vast majority of staff in this Department will receive a pay award this year. In the current climate the MOD 2008-2010 pay award as a whole looks increasingly attractive. So, whilst there is no more money available, I hope that it may be possible to resolve this dispute.

We have offered, and you have agreed to look at whether there is any scope for regrading any of the posts in the pay protection zone. I know that Ian Bull has already sent you the outline table for taking that work forward and has offered to let you have sight of the further analysis he has done of the existing data. I hope you will take him up on that offer and that you will be in touch with him very soon to agree a programme of work. I suggest that, within this project, we also look at the demographics and job families of the whole group so we can understand better the longevity of the issue and consider whether the protected pay in any of these groups might be justified in terms of the market.

In the Budget the Government said civil servants whose full time equivalent salary was greater than £21,000 would be subject to a pay freeze for two years from 2011/12, but they also said that employees whose salary was less than that would receive a pay increase of at least £250 and that there is some limited scope to avoid leapfrogging at this level. While the precise implications of this announcement still have to be determined, it would be helpful if we could resolve this current dispute so that we can move forward to work together on how we might structure a pay deal in 2011 that will benefit those of your members who felt most disadvantaged by the 2008 award.

I am genuinely sorry that I cannot offer financial settlement, but with others in the public sector being subject to a pay freeze this year, I can understand that the Government is not in a position to offer more funds to MOD on top of what is already a very generous pay award.


(Signed)

HEATHER SMITH

 

 

 

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