Capita TVL pay dispute – ACAS referral provides ‘last chance’ to avoid strike

Postal, Capita May 6 2022

Union agrees to company bosses’ arbitration request in bid to avoid industrial action by hundreds of TV licensing workers over annual wage settlement…

“We’ve agreed to this referral in the hope that common sense will win the day and that these talks will lead to a fair resolution – but this is our last chance to avoid a strike,” warned CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey yesterday, after independent arbitration service ACAS was called in to assist in finding a way forward in this long-running row.

Back in March, the company’s sub-inflation offer of 4 per cent was unanimously turned down by the union’s representatives at the business and then formally rejected by the postal executive, and, with no further response from the company as the CWU headed into Annual Conference last month, a statutory industrial action ballot appeared certain.

“When I was interviewed for the pre-conference edition of The Voice (see P14 here), I said that, unless we saw some movement from the company, there would be a full-on national ballot,” Andy continued, “so it’s good to see that they have stepped back from the brink and heeded that warning.

“An ACAS referral is not, of course, a solution, but at least it indicates to us that Capita TVL want peace rather than war – so do we. Now we need to see some movement from them on the substance of the issue – the actual pay offer itself. Inflation shows no sign of abating and we’re still looking to at least match the current cost of living for our members.

“So, we enter the ACAS process more optimistic than we were a couple of weeks ago, but we also remain as determined as ever to secure a decent settlement for our hard-working members.

“It ‘ain’t rocket science – it’s basic economics. Capita TVL needs to do better on pay.”