I work for the water company which covers London and we're currently voting on reforms to our contractual terms of service.
The second vote was voided today by the unions (we have 3) because the company tried to sneak in terms which weren't part of the negotiations which would negatively affect overtime pay. The union noticed, called them out, and cancelled the vote (JOIN A UNION!)
As you can imagine, the company is trying to skew the unions as the bad guys. I've copied their full response below for your interest which they sent to all employees.
For me it's the “extremely disappointed” and blaming the unions that the changes will be delayed until Xmas. Also the positive feedback apparently for the 5% payrise despite it being rejected by 87% at the first vote. Fucking liars.
Hi everyone,
We are extremely disappointed to inform you that the trade unions have decided to void the current ballot on the pay and conditions offer.
The trade unions have asserted that we've added in a non-negotiated change to the entitlement to bank holiday overtime payment.
We strongly refute that claim.
We have been completely open, honest and transparent with the unions throughout these negotiations.
The trade unions believe that as part of the package of changes, the company was proposing to increase the number of job roles entitled to claim overtime when working a bank holiday.
We are clear that our position throughout the negotiations is that there is no change to who is entitled to claim overtime for working bank holidays.
There are certain roles that have an additional allowance (now incorporated in the basic salary) to compensate for participating in rosters that provide cover for bank holidays. These roles are currently not eligible for additional payment for bank holiday working and will not be eligible for overtime payments for bank holiday working going forward.
We have been transparent on this in all communications.
During the first ballot period, we received a number of questions on this element and updated our FAQs to provide clarity. For complete transparency, we also added this extra clarification paragraph to our final principles and proposals document, which can be read here.
We are frustrated that our explanation and clarification on this one specific issue has not been accepted by the unions.
We want to be absolutely clear on this. The package of changes does not change anybody’s current eligibility for overtime payments. What has changed is the application of a consistent overtime rate.
There has been a lot of feedback from many employees that the proposed changes, including a 5% pay rise, green circling and a company performance incentive are all very welcome.
We also know our employees share our ambition of not delaying further the implementation of the pay rise and other benefits.
The unions will now reopen the ballot for the period from Friday, 7 October until Friday, 21 October.
This delay unfortunately means that if the pay and conditions offer is agreed, the enhancements to pay will not be paid until December payroll.
Finally, although disappointed with this situation, we continue to be committed to continue working constructively with our trade union partners.