Click here to read the latest Unite in AXA newsletter on the discretionary 1% element of the 2011 pay claim.

Please leave your feedback below or talk to your local union rep.

Following negotiations in Belfast last week, Unite in AXA has recommended members in Northern Ireland accept the management offer of a 3% pay pot that should see 75% of staff who are currently lower in the salary bands receive an average of 3.75%.

In addition to pay, another of other matters were discussed and these included the clarification of scheduled and non-scheduled bank holidays for branch staff, that any branch employee working on a scheduled bank holiday can choose between time off in lieu or overtime as opposed to it being management discretion, a review of the Northern Ireland staff handbook in comparison with the UK and ROI handbooks and the introduction of an annual payment of £60 to fire wardens in line with the rest of the UK.

On an 81.32% return of ballot papers issued, the result of the AXA UK 2011 pay ballot is:

For: 84.12%

Against: 15.54%

Spoilt: 0.34%

The company has been advised of the result.

Thanks to everyone who voted and the local union reps for the hard work put in running the ballots in their offices.

The 2011 AXA UK pay ballot is now underway and we urge all Unite in AXA members in the bargaining unit to exercise their right to vote.

If you are a member on a site which has not elected a local representative you will need to contact a rep at a nearby site to obtain a voting slip. A list of reps can be found here.

The ballot closes 2pm on Friday 18th February.

We are pleased to announce we have reached an agreement on the following pay proposal for employees in levels 6a to 9:

• A pay increase based on a 2% pay matrix. Plus
• A 1% discretionary spend, the focus of which will be determined by each CEO with their HR teams to target anomalies and key problem areas.

Overall, this equates to 3% of the total pay spend for this group of employees.

Unite will recommend this pay review to their members for acceptance in the forthcoming pay ballot which will take place from Monday 7 February until Friday 19 February.

PAY MATRIX

The following matrix will be used to award pay increases for all employees in level 6a to 9:

□   This matrix has an element of manager discretion but any adjustments up have to be balanced with movements down – this is necessary to ensure this is affordable for the business.

□   It had been previously agreed for those employees Above the pay range (i.e. where their FTE Salary is over the maximum of the pay range) every third year a pay award based upon the maximum salary for their pay range will be made (i.e. rather than a Lump Sum award)

□   No pay award will be available for Partially Successful performance – but when performance is back to a sustained Successful level of performance a pay award can be made at that time (not backdated) based on this pay matrix. Bonus awards can be made to Partially Successful employees on a discretionary basis as normal.

□   There will be no changes to the pay ranges for 2011.

Click here to read the latest Unite in AXA newsletter on the pay negotiations in AXA UK. Please leave your feedback below or talk to your local union rep.

Incomes Data Services (IDS) has reported that private-sector pay is set to increase this year but it will still trail behind the rate of inflation as VAT and rail fare rises impact RPI.

Their latest report predicts that pay rises are on course to be higher than 2010, but the growing cost of living will rise faster than average pay deals for the second year in a row.

The UK’s median pay award rose slightly to 2.2% in the three months to November 2010, according to the IDS research.

Read more about this here.

Unite in AXA union reps are meeting on Thursday to discuss pay, before talks with AXA commence next week. Make sure you have given your feedback to your local rep or left it on this site…

Click here to read the latest Unite in AXA newsletter on the 2011 pay claim.

Please leave your feedback below or talk to your local union rep.