Lloyds workers unhappy with pay packages, vote on industrial action |
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Wed, 18 May 2005 19:55
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Industrial action seems to be the flavour of the month in the UK banking sector. In the backdrop of the proposed action over at HSBC and the strike at BBC, comes a fresh threat. This time retail bank Lloyds TSB is under the hammer.
The Lloyds TSB group union has warned the bank to take this threat seriously and said that 96% of Lloyds staff represented by the union have unanimously rejected the bank's 2005 pay package. The union represents around 45,000 of the bank's 80,000 strong staff.
Steve Tatlow, assistant general secretary at the union issued a statement, which said, "We don't take the prospect of industrial action lightly but staff have now reached a point where, quite simply, enough is enough." He added that 92% of the staff wanted a ballot on industrial action.
The union has taken up the cause of 15,540 Lloyds’ staff who would not receive a pay rise this year. Further the union said that many staff have not received a pay rise for the last three or four years.
| "The market indicator or market rate for many jobs had been pitched below their previous rates. If you have worked for Lloyds TSB for four years or more the chances are … the bank will say you are getting paid enough," Steve Tatlow added.
The bank refuted these statements and claimed that its pay package was "one of the most attractive in the financial services industry." The bank asserted that the average pay rise was 3.5%. The staff was also given an additional 4% in a "flavour" scheme with an option of taking extra cash on vacations or buying additional holiday or childcare vouchers.
However, this has not pleased the union at all, "While the bank's pay spend is 3.5% this year, the majority of that money will be spent on lower paid staff and very little on more experienced staff with longer service," they claim. The mood of the union was dismal and "Morale is at rock bottom. Staff are over-worked, over-pressured and underpaid,” Tatlow said.
Lloyds has already had a threat of industrial action averted when it had announced plans to shift 2,500 jobs offshore. The threat was stalled after a compromise was reached with the union. Meanwhile HSBC faces strike on May 27 after staff who are members of trade union Amicus voted for industrial action over pay.
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