GMB North West and Irish Region Connect Magazine February 2020 | Page 4
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SOLIDARITY SHOWS THE WAY
news
Hard Won Deal Settles
Bitter Dispute At Matalan
.......TO THE DOSH
The bitter eight week pay dispute
at Matalan is over after members
accepted a new deal thrashed out by
GMB officers.
A large turnout for strike action has led to a healthy
two year pay deal at Novellis one of the largest
recycling plants in Europe. As a result of the high level talks the deal was signed
after 66.3% voted to accept 2.9% for 2019 backdated to
1st April with the same increase from April 1 next year.
Strike action by 100 GMB members in August was
followed by tough negotiations with the company’s
European Directors, resulting in an improved offer,
after the first proposal was rejected by members. Our negotiators also delivered a reinstatement of an
annual attendance bonus scheme worth £600 for those
who have 0% absence for the year. This had impacted on
around 60% of the membership.
Steve Boden the Full time Officer handling the
negotiations said: “This is a profitable company and
after months of talks, 96% of the workforce rejected
their first offer. We then balloted, got a 75%
return of voting papers with 74.6% of members
supporting strike action.” The company processes 144,000 tonnes of Aluminium
containers and 59,000 tonnes for the motor industry
each year, with profits of £80 million for 2018.
Reaching a settlement was far from
straightforward for negotiators to
complete, with talks lasting over six
months. It includes pay hikes up to
2.9% on top of a minimum increase
of 1.5%, an extra day holiday for
some shift workers, an increase in
overtime payments in the lead up to
the festive season and importantly
the deal backdated to April 1st was
overwhelmingly accepted in a ballot of
union members.
The company had initially tried to
absorb the statutory increase in the
minimum wage in the original offer
“
Both issues were dealt with in the
accepted offer.
A total of 87% voted on what was the
company’s third offer, but this time
a yes vote put an end to the strike
action which has affected around 400
staff and the company since August.
One of the union officers involved in
sealing the deal was Neil Holden, he
said: “This was a hard fought battle
which didn’t have to drag on so long,
causing hardship to our members but
the final settlement gives us not just
a deal for this year but assurances for
the future over a number of issues
including back dated pay.”
TRAINING
The new year will see
the start of a new
round of trade union
training getting under
way with ten day
induction courses in
both Liverpool and
Cheadle in February.
As well as the
induction courses for
new reps we hope to
deliver a number of
advanced courses.
These include a two
day session called
“Tackling Stress and
Mental Health in the
Workplace”. This
proved to be very
popular last year with
over 100 members
attending across the
region including some
delivered specifically
in workplaces like
Jacobs.
We have re-vamped
the two day Grievance
and Disciplinary
course to merge with
Employment Law case
work and we expect
this will attract many
reps to broaden
their knowledge
and experiences to
help them represent
members in difficult
circumstances.
STEVE ADDED
I have to congratulate the site reps
Matt Worthington, Neil Fray and
Peter Allan for their organisational
and communication skills
throughout the dispute.
and also wanted to restrict back pay
to July instead of the anniversary date
of April.
inbrief ...
A five day Risk
Assessment/Health &
Safety course
introduce a wider
range of activities to
stretch the minds and
improve our chances
in the workplace
using H&S law and
practices.
It was also extremely gratifying to note
that 100% of the membership supported
this action and not one GMB crossed the
picket-line.”
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