FINANCE
Mind the (pay) gap!
Unite urged Barclays in February to do more to close the pay gap between the highest and lowest paid staff at the bank. The demand comes as Barclays’ profits rose 26 per cent £7.05bn on an underlying basis.
Unite national officer, Dominic Hook said, “The CEO’s promise of a culture shift at the bank is to be welcomed, but we need to see more progress to address the gap between the highest paid and the lowest paid staff at Barclays, which is huge.
“It’s shocking but true that the start- ing salary at Barclays is just £13,500 a year, making some workers at the bank eligible to claim tax credits.
“With pay talks due to start soon, Unite will be expecting the bank to reward its staff fairly for their contri- bution to the success of the bank.”
MoD Firefighters’ flawed pensions win
Nearly 1,000 ministry of defence (MoD) firefighters have won a vital Parliamentary victory in their fight not to work an extra eight years until they
are 68 before they receive their pension.
The House of Lords agreed an amendment to the government’s public sector
pension legislation back to the House of Commons saying the firefighters should retire at 60 – the same age as civilian firefighters and police officers.
Because of an anomaly in the government’s pension legislation, MoD firefighters were not included as ‘uniform grades’ which would have enabled them to retire at an earlier age. MPs are expected to vote on the amendment before Easter.
MoD firefighters fight flawed deal 11 uniteWORKS March/April 2013
Unite MoD firefighter Dave Kirby, from RAF Leconfield, has led the fight against the flawed legislation. Dave said, “This is a victory in our fight for equality with civilian colleagues doing the same job. It is unreasonable to expect firefighters to work until they are 68 before receiving their pension because of the extreme physicality of the job.”
UNEMPLOYMENT No time to crow
Unite warned the government not to crow over the February unemployment figures as the country still faces an employment crisis.
Unemployment has fallen by 14,000 in the final quarter of last year to 2.5m, according to figures from the office for national statistics (ONS). But youth unemployment, counting 16 to 24-year-olds, rose by 11,000 to 974,000 – the biggest increase since the start of last year.
Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said, “When 1,700 people apply for just eight jobs in a Nottingham coffee shop, there is something seriously wrong with employment in this country.
“Of course it’s good news more people are reportedly in work, but the number of young unemployed people just keeps climbing, while wages fall and growing numbers of people need two jobs just to get by.
“This is no time for the government to crow. The shocking waste of our young people’s talents, underemployment, poverty pay and bogus self-employment are all indicators of an employment crisis, not a recovery.”
John Harris/
reportdigital.co.uk
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