RATES OF PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2022 – TRANSPORT FOR WALES

Our Ref: BR2/0001/TFW

15^th November 2022

 

Dear Colleague,

 

RATES OF PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2022 – TRANSPORT FOR WALES

 

Further to my previous correspondence, I write to inform you that fresh talks have taken place with the company and an improved offer has been tabled for all affected members which can be found below:-

 

• This is a 9-month deal, with a commitment to bring forward the pay anniversary date from 1^st July to the 1^st April going forward.

• A collective pay offer of 4.5% across all grades with a minimum increase of £1,500* per fulltime equivalent (*colleagues earning less than £33,350).
• A one off non-consolidated payment of £1,000 will be awarded to colleagues earning less than £33,350, to support addressing the difference between the lower and higher pay groups.
• A commitment to no compulsory redundancies for the period of the original Grant Agreement.
• An increase in Maternity leave from 12 weeks full pay to 26 weeks full pay (eligibility from 1^st July 2022)
• An increase in Paternity leave from 1-week full pay to 2 weeks full pay (eligibility from 1^st July 2022)
• An agreement to provide spouse / partners of staff a Travel pass on the same terms it is offered to staff that leave TFW RL e.g., Retire, ill health (eligibility from 1^st July 2022).

 

Productivity Elements:

 

Conductors:

 

The pay offer of 4.5% will increase to 6.6% for agreement of the following productivity elements:

 

• Implementation of scanning at 2p per scan with a review within 12 months of scanning and selling commission. A one off non-consolidated payment of £500 will be made in recognition of this change.
• Commitment to running services on New Year’s Day on CVL commencing from 1^st  January 2024, and the approach will form part of CRI Talks.

 

Stations:

 

The pay offer of 4.5% will increase to 6.6% for agreement of the following productivity element:

 

• A Station-by-Station review of local working arrangements, to be undertaken by Station Management Teams with local and Station Company Council representatives.

 

Drivers:

 

The pay offer of 4.5% will increase to 6.6% on condition of delivery of the following productivity elements:-

 

• An agreement to classify the WWE event at the Principality Stadium in September 2022, as a “Special Event” as per the Driver Working Arrangements, allowing diagram flexibility as per section 5.2b. This event was on the 21^st September and has therefore been completed and this productivity element will be paid in lieu of that.
• A commitment to continue and close out DRI talks by early November 2022. This will be achieved through ongoing discussions and a workshop that will be attended by RMT & ASLEF, CC reps and TfW where the finite detail will be discussed and agreed. We anticipate that the workshop will be facilitated by Jan Chaudhry, Marie Daly, Martyn Brennan, Julian Thomas and Dave Taylor and in conjunction with the company council. The session will be opened by James Price CEO, to demonstrate the TfW Rail Boards’ commitment to working with the company council to create a DRI deal that delivers for our people and the future of TfW in delivering the best possible service to our customers.
• Changing the cap on Sundays from 177 today to 210. Payment for Sundays will be altered to bring into line with the RDW agreement, i.e., a minimum of 9 hours at time + third of the current hourly rate will apply when booking on duty for a Sunday. This will be a permanent increase to the Sunday cap. In line with the additional Sunday diagrams, there will be an increase in Driver FTE as per our transformation resource plans.

 

Fleet:

 

The pay offer of 4.5% will increase to 6.6% for agreement of the following productivity elements:-

 

• A commitment from TU colleagues to be part of a time and motion study to look for improved efficiencies including rectification of vehicle task timings which will be used to plan the workload of fleet employees. This to involve using timed jobs on fleet where possible, collectively finding opportunities or synergies on legacy fleet allowing workloads to be planned more efficiently with known task and repair timings. If this process identifies efficiencies, then reasonable and agreed efficiencies are accounted for in this productivity.
• Agreement to include Bolt-On payments, including pension, from 1^st April 2023. 

 

Clerical:

 

The pay offer of 4.5% will increase to 6.6% on condition of delivery of the following productivity elements:-

 

• Colleagues will be required to complete one customer support shift in a 12-month period, commencing January 2023.
• This shift can be one of the example activities, however, the list is not exhaustive. The activities could also take place on weekdays or over weekends. Examples are, a shift supporting our complaints or social media teams and a customer support shift at Stations during events and/or disruption.
• The process to how this will work will be discussed and agreed at the Clerical Company Council alongside meaningful negotiations on RMT aspiration around a shorter working week.
• For those colleagues who due to personal circumstances are unable to undertake a customer support shift, this will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. In addition, TfW are committed to an annual review of the customer support activity in order to take lessons learnt and maintain the continuous improvement to the colleague and customer experience.

 

Your 15 RMT Company Council Reps have unanimously recommended acceptance of this offer. Please note that TSSA, Unite and Aslef have already accepted inferior offers for the 2022 pay round. The RMT dispute and negotiations has improved the position for RMT members.

 

Noting the offer, your union’s National Executive (NEC) has carefully considered the proposals and it has instructed me to hold a referendum of all affected members so that you can have your say on the deal. The NEC is also recommending that you vote ’YES’ to accept the offer.

 

The NEC reasoning behind this recommendation is that this offer represents a significant  improvement for low paid members facing rising costs this year and without your willingness to enter into a dispute, your union would not have been in a position to negotiate  considerable added value into the deal for all Transport for Wales workers. Additionally,  RMT expects negotiations for 2023 pay to commence in January 2023.

 

The on-line referendum will close at 10:00 on Tuesday 22^nd November 2022.

 

YOU MUST HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS TO TAKE PART

 

Referendum Instructions

 

Members will shortly receive an email from ‘RMT Referenda’ which will allow you to register your vote. Please follow the instructions and make sure you complete this by no later than 10:00 on Tuesday 22^nd November 2022. Once members have voted, you will receive an email from RMT Referenda confirming how you have voted and that your vote has been cast successfully.

 

VOTE ‘YES’ TO ACCEPT THE OFFER

 

If you know of any member who has not received this email or if you are having any difficulties voting, please contact referenda@rmt.org.uk or the RMT Helpline on 0800 376 3706. If you do not receive your vote immediately, please check your junk/spam folders before contacting us for a replacement.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Michael Lynch

General Secretary