There is logic to that proposal, which brings the salary review date in line with the financial year end, and payment of bonus. Mindful of the March pay roll cut-off, and our desire to formally consult members by way of a ballot on that particular issue, we've agreed a two stage deal which potentially takes us to a next review date of September 2012.

Details of the 2011 Pay Agreement

Prospect and Airwave have reached an "in principle" agreement which sees the MPG pay bill increase by 5.25% over 18 months.

This translates to increases for members in the following ways:

• 3.5% across the board increase to salaries to all MPGs with at least satisfactory performance as reflected at the first checkpoint (Levels 3, 4,5) paid at 1 March 2011.

The second part of the agreement is reliant on a positive outcome from members in a ballot. Should the union then be able to confirm agreement to move the salary review date to 1 Sept there will then be:

• A further increase of 1% across the board paid 1 September 2011;
• A further pay bill increase of 0.75% to be distributed via a matrix, the details of which are yet to be agreed but are likely include a reference to performance, the external market and take account of current salary levels.
• The next date for salary review will be Sept 2012.

In order to ensure that members see an increase to salaries as soon as possible, the deal has been front-end loaded, and is in two parts, allowing members to express views with particular relation to the contractual change of salary review date, details of which are to follow.

Against the background of a challenging economic climate, and of private sector pay deals averaging between 2 and 3%, your Prospect Reps are very clear that this represents the best agreement achievable by negotiation. It compares favourably with other deals across the Prospect family and within our sector.

Position against the market

As we reported in last year's pay agreement comms, Airwave remain very keen to move away from the long and mysterious pay bands of the MPG, which are generally accepted to be unfit for purpose in Airwave. Airwave are keen to do further external market benchmarking and use this in relation to on-going salary review. These are discussions that could take up a lot of time and resource, and Prospect will want to examine any proposals and market data thoroughly. We do accept that there are some pay anomalies in the company, with people paid different salary levels for the same role and this does need addressing. However, we need to ensure that this is not to the detriment of Prospect members. We have agreed to talks with Airwave on this subject and will keep members fully up to date with those discussions.

MPG Members Ballot

Moving the salary review date to 1 September was a decision your Prospect Reps felt needed the clear support of members by way of a ballot.

Therefore, we'll be inviting MPG members to participate in a membership ballot shortly and recommending that you vote YES to that proposal.

The online e-ballot will run from today Friday 18th March until Monday 28th March, covering 3 working weeks (in 10 days) for MPG members to express their opinion in advance of the union making a final agreement. You will receive a separate email with your logon details and link to the ballot. To ensure you receive a ballot please take a moment to make sure that we have an up to date email address by visiting the Connect Sector website (Please note that if you do not receive an e-ballot by close of play on Monday 28th March then please email [email protected])

If members do vote to accept the change of salary review date, then the second half of the pay agreement is paid in September salaries, as outlined above.

Allowances

• The following allowances are also due to increase by 3.5% from 1 March 2011
  Shift Allowance
• On Call Allowance

It's nothing personal?

The union's campaign to represent those in the personal contract group continues, and pay is just one further example where the union would have been delighted to argue on behalf of all our members. Please do keep up the good work you've been doing in talking to your colleagues and teams about the importance of being in the union and support our work. Together we make a difference.

More meet the union dates…

Sarah Ward (National Officer) and Simon Brown (Organising Project Leader) will be back in Rugby next Monday 21 March in the ground floor break out area and available to talk to members about this pay agreement, and any other issues you might have.

Conference Call open to all MPG members (or joining members) on Wednesday 23 March from 9.30am until 10am to talk through the pay agreement and again, pick up any other points members want to raise.

Anyone wanting to join that call should register with Nicola Haley [email protected] or via 020 8971 6034 and we can provide the details.

Contact Us

The union's helpdesk is available to support members with questions, concerns or feedback via [email protected] or 020 8971 6060