An electronic ballot of union members covered by collective bargaining will run from Wednesday 11 July to midday on Wednesday 1 August 2018. Members will be asked if they reject the offer, and if so, whether they are prepared to take industrial action to seek a better offer.

Since April both unions have held four meetings with the management at Ericsson Ltd, the UK part of the Swedish-owned communications, technology and services company, to discuss the 2018 FSO pay review. But the talks ended in deadlock.

Under the current offer:

• Those earning more than 5% above the industry benchmark for their role will receive no increase at all, not even an unconsolidated lump sum.
• Even though the overall increase amounts to 0.5% of the current payroll costs, more than 80% will receive no increase at all.

Management is proposing a 4% increase on shift, on-call and climbing allowances.

A small group of employees – fewer than 20% of the field service operatives earning less than the benchmark – could receive an increase of between 2%-6%, with those earning less receiving more. However, these awards are performance-related.

Management has proposed to create a new role of lead engineer, with 37 positions. Anybody will be allowed to apply for these posts, including current senior field engineers. But the posts of successful senior field engineers will not be backfilled.

In addition, field operatives who are already currently part of a two-year salary “escalator” will not qualify for anything under the pay offer.

Prospect negotiator Simon Brown said: “Ericsson Limited has consistently made a profit and the latest available figures confirm this to still be the case.

“Neither union is prepared to accept this insulting offer, especially as members have seen several years of below-inflation pay increases. 

“We believe the money is available to offer a significantly higher increase and we want to see all staff benefit, not just a tiny proportion. That’s why we are urging members to reject the offer and support industrial action, in order to strengthen the hand of the unions in further discussions.”

Brown urged any non-members to join Prospect at prospect.org.uk/join as soon as possible, with anyone signing up by Monday 23 July eligible to take part in the ballot.