Pay deal victory

Workers maintaining tens of thousands of miles of UK motorways secured a much improved pay deal today (March 3). The Unite members, working for Amey in four different depots in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire, accepted the two-year pay deal following the first day of an unprecedented week-long strike action.

 
Amey’s workers, who grit roads and maintain crash barriers, argued that they were not about to accept a pay deal that in actuality amounted to a real-terms pay cut.

 
The new deal put forward by management and accepted by members will include a 2.25 per cent increase in pay, backdated to April 1 of last year, as well as an additional 1.75 per cent increase in pay as of April 1, 2015.

 
“The solidarity and determination of Unite members throughout this lengthy dispute meant we were successful in negotiating a two-year pay settlement that is acceptable to the majority of our members,” said Unite regional officer Richard Gates.

 
“Thanks to the strong position we took and the arguments the union put forward Amey realised that workers have been hit hard in recent years over pay,” he added.

 
Gates went on to say that the workers were not about to accept a below-inflation pay offer, especially considering the fact that Amey’s directors saw their salaries hiked by 65 per cent in the past four years.

 
“Make no mistake this is a victory and members are delighted,” Gates said.

 
Unite members had staged a number of 24-hour strikes last month and began what would have been a week-long walkout yesterday – Monday 2 March. That action has now been called off.