Pay hike win

A pay deal at Rolls Royce Rotherham ABCF guaranteeing a minimum of 17 per cent over three years has been signed today (Friday May 5) with Unite.

Unite said that the package which will benefit about 120 staff below the management is ‘one of the largest deals that Rolls Royce (RR) has agreed in recent years’.

The union said that the deal was a recognition that the pay rates were among the lowest across the RR group and this had resulted in workers at the south Yorkshire site, which makes single crystal turbine blades, leaving for better jobs.

“While small in number in terms of the workforce, it is one of the largest deals RR has agreed in recent years,” said Unite regional officer Doug Patterson.

“It has come about because the company finally accepted what Unite had been saying for some time that paying the lowest rates in the group was contributing significantly to the high rate of attrition.”

Grade salary ranges and pay points increased on  March 1 2017 icrease by 2.8 per cent; on 1 March 2018 by 2.5 per cent; and on 1 March 2019 by 2.5 per cent. Followed by an increase on  March 1 in subsequent years by the uncapped retail price index (RPI) with a minimum of 2.5 per cent based on the mean average of the November, December and January figures.

Fixed shift allowances will increase this year by ÂŁ300 – ÂŁ600 per year which equates to about eight per cent over the three year period.

“We regard this pay deal, following tough negotiations, as a success in these challenging economic times and it demonstrates the strong value of union membership,” added Doug Patterson.

“What individuals will receive depends on whether they are ‘shop floor’ or ‘professional’, but we estimate that for most employees that it will be a minimum of 17 per cent over three years.”

It was in 2015 that Rolls-Royce marked the official opening of its new ÂŁ110m Advanced Blade Casting Facility (ABCF) at Rotherham.