Pay

Your pay rise should at least keep pace with - and preferably exceed - the rising cost of living.

The fact is that the cost of living regularly rises beyond the rate of inflation and living standards suffer as a result. Below is an example of increases:-

While our employers expect us to accept pay "rises" that are in some cases below inflation, and in others just fractionally above, here is what TfL, London Underground and Crossrail bosses are "earning" (Total remuneration excluding pension contributions, 2010/11) :

• Peter Hendy, Commissioner: £332,276
• Steve Allen, Managing Director, Finance: £268,982
• Mike Brown, Managing Director, London Underground: £285,230
• Howard Carter, General Counsel: £219,156
• Leon Daniels, Managing Director, Surface Transport: £97,000
  

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note the agreement from Transport for London that staff recently transferred from London Underground will receive the same pay award as other TfL employees, receiving a rise of between 6% and 7.5%. We endorse our Regional Organiser’s recommendation that we accept this.

This offer underlines the inadequacy of other pay offers in companies either owned or contracted/franchised by TfL, such as London Underground and Alstom Metro Trains.

We therefore instruct the General Secretary to:

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note the revised offer from London Underground. The only difference between this and the previous offer is that it includes a minimum pay rise of 2% for years 2 to 5. Although this is welcome, and addresses one of our grounds for rejecting the previous offer, it does not address our other objections, which are as follows:

• The offer of 5% for this year is still below the February RPI figure of 5.5% and is thus a real-terms pay cut.

General Grades Committee decision:

We note the latest offer from Alstom Metro Trains:
• year 1: 4% increase on basic pay
• year 2: 4% increase on basic pay
• up to £400 Olympic bonus
• proposals on travel costs and appraisal interviews

We note that this offer does not meet our claim or our members’ aspirations, as it:
• is below RPI for this year
• may well be below RPI for next year
• compares badly to other pay awards in the region

Several companies where RMT negotiates have agreed pay deals this year and several more have had offers made for 2011. The table below shows the current status of pay claims and pay awards - so you can see where things stand in the company you work for.

If you work for London Underground, you can see how LUL compares with other employers in the TfL area with its below-inflation current offer of 5% for this year and the rates for the next four years in the five-year deal that has been tabled, have a look at the table below.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We reject the latest offer from London Underground on the following grounds:

• The revised offer of 5% for this year is still below the February RPI figure of 5.5% and is thus a real-terms pay cut. It is important that pay rises keep pace with, or preferably exceed, price rises, and that the same month's RPI figure is used each year in order to track price rises year-on-year.

London Underground management have tabled an improved offer for the 2011 pay award. Having considered this offer your General Grades Committee has made the following decision that “we reject the latest pay offer from London Underground."

Read the full circular to see the new offer in full and why the RMT General Grades Committee have rejected it.