18th August 2006
Dear
I am writing to advise you that with effect from the date of this letter you are hereby being given formal notice, in accordance with your contractual rights, of the termination of your contract of employment with Amicus.
Along with this notice of termination of your contract of employment this letter also constitutes a formal offer of suitable alternative employment as an Education Officer at a salary level of £34,930.00 which is the pay level established by the independent pay review for the job of an Education Officer.
As you will be aware there has recently been an independent pay review for Amicus staff (excluding former UNIFI and GPMU staff) which looked at the then existing pay grading structures and sought to harmonise the former AEEU and MSF salary levels and as part of that process establish a salary level within our pay grading structure appropriate for the job in question.
You will appreciate that it was not financially viable for the union to simply level every one up to the highest salary level for the job, particularly in view of the fact that some potential ‘comparators’ were on a higher pay level because they had been redeployed from other jobs. You will know that within Amicus it has hitherto been the case that where employees have been effectively demoted as a consequence of their redeployment they have in fact had their pre-existing salary levels preserved and have then continued to receive inflation increases on those pre-existing salary levels. Differences in pay and salary levels also exist for other historical reasons, for example where arrangements have been made to ‘buy out’ contractual rights in respect of service related increments.
In those cases where the independent pay review left staff in the position that their existing pay or salary level was already above the pay level established for the job they were undertaking they maintained their current rate of pay and retained this rate as a ‘personal rate’ whilst at the same time continuing to receive any collectively agreed increases in salary on this ‘personal rate’. This rate was seen as a rate of pay or salary level personal to the employee concerned and not the ‘rate for the job’. It was our clear understanding during the pay review negotiations that this was a solution acceptable to all of the staff representatives involved.
However, we have now received a claim, supported by the GMB, which seeks to strictly apply the law on equal payand which puts the union as the employer in a position that makes it impossible for such a pragmatic solution to be maintained in the face of such a claim. As a result Amicus has had to take in to consideration both its resources, and its fiduciary duty to the members to act in a responsible and justifiable manner, and as a consequence is left with no option but to take the appropriate remedial action.
As has been said above, it is simply not tenable to level every one up to the highest salary level and I am therefore, left with no alternative but to reduce all ‘personal rates’ currently enjoyed by those staff either employed as Education Officers or deployed within the Education Department down to the pay level established for the job by the independent pay review, unless your individual consultation justifies a different outcome.
Arrangements will be made during the period of your contractual notice for you to be fully consulted on this unfortunate situation, and for you to have the opportunity to discuss with us this very regrettable turn of events, and the terms of our offer which is subject to the standard Amicus terms and conditions of employment. You will be provided with further information by the Personnel Department prior to your individual consultation.
Yours sincerely
Derek Simpson
General Secretary
Cc Mike McCartney
Tony Ayres
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