UNISON has written out to all members to consult you on the pay claim we propose to submit to Enable in respect of the pay rise due to cover the period 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011. We are due to meet with Enable on 11th November to discuss pay amongst other issues and will submit our claim in advance of this.
Your stewards met to discuss and agree the proposed claim on 9th September and now recommend its acceptance to you. You will see from the copy of the claim posted on the blog that we are calling for a rise of 2.5%. This is a modest claim given you endured a pay freeze last year and inflation is over 4%. Your stewards and I thought that in the current climate we had to be realistic whilst seeking to gain some improvement in pay for our members.
We have no doubt Enable will inform us money is once again tight but we hope the realistic nature of our claim will encourage them to look very seriously at meeting it. We now need you to vote strongly in support by returning the ballot paper by Friday 9th October. We also need you to help us show the growing strength of support for a decent settlement by encouraging a colleague to join. The single biggest thing you can do to help us win a decent pay award is recruit a colleague. They can join by filling in the form enclosed with the mailing or by clicking on the join UNISON picture on the blog front page.
Other aspects tackled in the claim is our belief that sleepovers over 8 hours should be paid at the rate for the job i.e. your hourly rate, this addresses the creeping move to extend sleepover times for no extra pay. UNISON still believes sleepovers should be paid at the national minimum wage and is looking at ways to progress this legally. Finally, we state again that the changes to the sick pay scheme should be reviewed.
