2009 Pay settlement for CoL workers
The Unison Branch is encouraging those members affected by the cut in annual leave to write directly to the Town Clerk asserting their contractual rights.
The letter to be sent by members states:-
I refer to your notice to employees of 17.11.09.
I do not agree to the change in my contract of employment which you seek in relation to my annual leave. I am unaware of anything discriminatory, contrary to the equal Pay Act or otherwise unlawful about my annual leave entitlement. There is therefore no lawful basis known to me which would entitle you to vary my contract in the manner indicated in your letter.
Please confirm that my contractual entitlement will remain undisturbed.
A full copy of the letter can be downloaded here
If you are affected by this change please download the letter and complete with your details and then contact the branch secretary on
07721060737 or malcolm.key@cityoflondon.gov.uk
The Town Clerks letter which was emailed to all staff:-
I expect many of you have been wondering about the annual cost of living pay award for 2009. I am writing to update you as we have been in discussions with the recognised Trade Unions over the past few months.
Following discussions with representatives of the Trade Unions and following agreement by the Establishment and Finance Committees, the City of London Corporation is offering a pay award for 2009 of 1%. Although this is still subject to the Court of Common Council voting to approve the offer, if agreed, it will be back dated to 1 July 2009.
In formulating this pay award, we have had to consider the exceptionally difficult financial situation and the fact we are in a period of negative inflation. Many other employers, in both the public and private sectors, are having to introduce pay freezes or even pay cuts. So it is good news for Corporation employees that, even during one of the worst recessions of the last 100 years, we are still able to offer a modest pay increase for this year.
The primary purpose of the annual pay award is to take account of the effects of inflation. This is in addition to annual incremental progression. The current absence of inflation clearly reduces the justification for such an award. However, the City Corporation is conscious that changes are having to be made to equalise terms and conditions and achieve greater efficiency. In recognition of this, we would like to match the pay award of 1% offered in Local Authorities elsewhere, without having to make the cuts in services and jobs that many others are having to make.
We have therefore made this offer on the understanding that we achieve the final stages of the programme to equalise all of our terms and conditions.
The law requires that we have equal terms and conditions for employees and since 2007 we have been moving towards removing historical pay and leave “protections”. In accordance with the 2007 Collective Agreement, all terms and conditions will be equalised by 1 October 2010. Some employees currently have “protected” annual leave entitlements and it is our intention to move everyone to the same leave entitlements applied to all employees who have joined since 1 July 1997.
Protected Annual Leave
As part of this pay offer, we propose to extend the period for equalising annual leave from
1 October 2010 until January 2013, for those on “protected” entitlements. We will do this by “freezing” current “protected” entitlements and then removing one day per year until the annual leave is equalised, with effect from January 2011.
This change does not affect employees who joined the City of London Corporation after
1 July 1997, to whom the current entitlements apply.
Annual leave on retirement
In order to equalise leave arrangements, in future, retiring employees will receive the same annual leave entitlement as anyone else leaving the Corporation. This is a “pro rata” entitlement rather than the current arrangement where retiring employees receive the full year’s annual leave entitlement regardless of the month in which they retire.
As you know, for the City Corporation and for public services generally, this is a very difficult time. We are all trying to balance our budgets to protect services. A lot of work remains to be done and we will be progressing our reviews of HR, procurement, IS and strategic finance, as we look to make further savings. Only by doing this and searching for other efficiencies can we ensure we are in good financial shape for the long term.
We believe that this pay offer is fair and reasonable given our circumstances and obligations and therefore we have no plans to make any further pay offers for 2009/10.
You may wish to note that in recognition of these difficult financial times, I and the Chief Officers have offered to forgo this pay award.
Regards
Chris Duffield
Town Clerk and Chief Executive
