Improved Capita/O2 pay offer out to ballot

Telecoms & Financial Services, Capita May 16 2018

Members in Capita on the O2 account who were transferred over from Telefonica in 2013 in what was then the biggest outsourcing in British industrial history are being urged to accept to accept a CWU-negotiated pay settlement which provides for a 2 per cent across-the-board rise that flows through to allowances.

The fully consolidated deal, which only applies to the TUPE’d population on legacy O2 contracts at the Preston Brook and Leeds Arlington Business Centre sites, is now subject to a consultative postal ballot which will commence this Thursday (May 17).

If accepted by members the pay rise will be backdated to January 1.

Commending the offer to members CWU assistant secretary Brendan O’Brien stressed that negotiations on pay this year have been “frustrating and unusual in that there have been more factors to consider, making the process a lot more lengthy and challenging than normal.”

Negotiations had only just got underway when the latest in a series of profit warnings spooked the City at the end of January, triggering a halving in Capita’s share price in just one day, and talks unsurprisingly then stalled for some weeks.

A subsequent offer of a 1.75 per cent pay rise was rejected by the CWU National Team as “falling short of the aspirations of the membership.”

Brendan explained: “Back in early February we were told that Capita Group’s problems were not meant to impact the front line or reduce customer facing roles, but in our view those problems were clearly reflected in the initial pay offer, which is why, after some deliberation, we rejected it.

“Since then a considerable number of meetings and exchanges of correspondence have taken place with an increased intensity in recent weeks.”

Commenting on the company’s full and final offer of 2 per cent across all pay bands, Brendan concludes: “This is above the pay pot allowance expected by Group and, therefore, it is the view of the CWU National Team that this offer represents the best deal that can be achieved by negotiation.

“I’d like to thank those members in the TUPE population who have kept up the pressure on the issue in meetings and conversations with management, as well as with union reps, as their strength of feeling undoubtedly strengthened the union’s negotiating hand in what has been an exceptionally tough series of talks.”

• Ballot papers will be despatched to members’ home addresses from May 17, and must have been returned in the pre-paid envelope supplied by June 7 at the latest.