RR Donnelley pay deal accepted

Telecoms & Financial Services March 22 2019

Members conducting outsourced mailroom, digital imaging and printroom functions across Santander have accepted a CWU-brokered 2.4 per cent pay offer in a series of workplace ballots.

Following protracted talks with RR Donnelley management  – which began with the company insisting there was little money for a pay rise this year – the now ratified pay settlement represents a breakthrough in the union’s long-held ambition to secure a pay rise for ALL staff on April 1, no matter their current salary.

Assistant secretary John East explains: “ Since 2016 we’ve had to operate a two-stage process, with those staff originally employed by Geoban getting a pay rise in April – but those on Pitney Bowes, Swiss Post or RR Donnelley contracts having to wait for the announcement of the Real Living Wage in November to get their rise.

“That stemmed from the CWU’s success getting Santander to pay sub-contractors, as well as its own staff, the Real Living Wage as a minimum – but ever since then we’ve argued it would be preferable for there to be a single April 1 pay date….and this year RR Donnelley has finally agreed .

“As a result, the deal that members have now ratified applies equally across the whole workforce – with anyone paid at the rate of the Real Living wage receiving their rise seven months earlier than expected.”

The fully consolidated 2.4 per cent pay settlement will now be implemented in April salaries – benefitting around 140 CWU-represented grade employees in Bootle, Bradford and Carlton Park.

In addition to the across-the-board CWU-negotiated pay rise, staff who were previously employed by Geoban at Bootle and Carlton Park will receive a flat rate bonus of £205. Although the level of that bonus falls outside the union’s collective bargaining remit, the CWU always argues the case for the bonus pot to be split equally.