Approximately 700 employees who work for shipbuilding organisation Cammell Laird, and who are members of trade unions Unite and GMB, are to receive a five-year pay deal, backdated to July 2017.
The pay deal, which has been facilitated by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), is divided into two terms, including a three-year first term and a two-year second term.
In the first year of the first term, employees will receive a 3.7% pay increase backdated to 6 July 2017, a £5,000 increase in death in service and a one week reduction in the qualifying period for sick pay. In the second year, employees will gain a further pay rise of between 2-3% and an additional £5,000 increase in death in service, and during the third year employees will receive another 2-3% pay increase and £5,000 increase in death in service, as well as gain a 30 minute reduction in weekly working hours from 38.5 hours a week to 38 hours a week.
The second term of the new pay deal includes a pay increase of between 1.75% and 3.25% for both year four and year five.
The new pay deal is eligible for all employees at Cammell Laird, excluding senior managers. Unite and GMB members voted in a consultative ballot to accept the new arrangement.
John Syvret CBE, chief executive officer at Cammell Laird, said: “I am pleased to announce that following productive talks with the respective trade unions GMB and Unite we have concluded an agreement that received overwhelming support from our workforce.
“This means we can now focus all our efforts on driving the upward trajectory of the [organisation], delivering existing contracts and positioning the [organisation] to win new long-term contracts. We now have good visibility of our cost base and can aggressively pursue important commercial and UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) contracts.”
Phil Allman, regional officer at Unite, added: “Unite members have shown their support and good faith by agreeing a deal that in our opinion will help Cammell Laird not only sustain present levels of employment but also put [the organisation] in a strong position to win new contracts, creating new jobs and apprenticeships for the local and national labour market.
“It is with this in mind that Unite supports the call for the UK government and the MoD to place orders that are paid for with taxpayers money into UK shipyards creating UK based jobs which then pushes that money back into the local communities.”
Albie McGuigan, spokesperson at GMB, said: “We believe that this agreement achieved with Acas assistance has been made with a mutual understanding of the needs and aspirations of our members and the long-term ambition of the [organisation].
“We hope that Cammell Laird can now concentrate on future contract bids and build upon their recent success by winning further orders in both the private commercial and UK Ministry of Defence sectors. If this could be achieved it would then lead on to job security in the shipyard and help to support its supply and contractor base in the north west region. It would further help to provide additional investment in apprenticeships and training, therefore providing the skills for the future of the UK shipbuilding industry.”