Midland Metro staff reject pay offer

There may be trouble ahead at Midland Metro after staff (drivers, conductors and those in the engineering department) rejected the initial pay offer from National Express which would have seen a two tier pay rise introduced (a not uncommon tactic used in business). For those earning more that £25,000 the offer was 1.4% plus an one off payment of £50 and those earning less than £25,000 the offer was 2.2% – but the Unite Union refused to recommend the offer to their members and it was rejected by 76 to 15.

Although this offer has been declined Unite Union regional officer, John Patridge, is said to be hopeful that an agreement can be reached as he doesn’t believe the two parties are a long way away from each other.

Mr Partridge commented: “We were trying to get the lower paid people a better deal and it was turned down by 76 to 15. I was disappointed with the offer and therefore we were not prepared to recommend it and there was no great surprise that it has been turned down by a considerable margin. This affects drivers, conductors, controllers, engineers – everybody apart from management. But I do not think that it is going to take a huge amount of improvement to get to a settlement. At present we are a little way short of what meets our members’ aspirations but I would be relatively hopeful that we would be able to bridge the gap.”

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