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Call for mediation talks over staff pay cuts at Quarriers

Finance | Gareth Jones | 30 Aug 2011

Management at Scottish social care charity Quarriers are facing calls to enter mediation talks after staff voted to strike over pay cuts.

According to the Unison trade union, staff are facing salary cuts of up to 23 per cent, with more than 560 staff receiving a 10 per cent drop. It said that in a strike ballot, 76 per cent of its 219 members voted for strike action, with 85 per cent in favour of action short of a strike.

The union said it had offered to enter arbitration talks with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), but that management had refused.

A spokesman for the charity denied the union's claim that staff were "being sacked", saying that they were merely being offered new contracts on reduced terms. However, he admitted that if staff refused to sign the contracts then they would be out of a job.

Unison's Quarriers branch secretary Stephen Brown said: "No one can cope with a 23 per cent pay cut.

"And for Quarriers to suggest that they will set up a hardship fund for its own staff, funded out of their own pay cuts, shows how much the organisation has lost touch with its values."

“Only 10 per cent of staff in favour of strike”

Small proportion of staff

Quarriers chief executive Paul Moore said that Unison's membership is only a small proportion of the charity’s 2,000 staff, and of them, only 44 per cent voted in the strike ballot.

He added that the charity's offer had been accepted by another trade union representing staff.

“Unison has informed us that 10 per cent of our 2,000 staff voted for action in the ballot.

“We have been verbally advised by EIS – the other union involved in negotiations – that it has accepted our offer.

“This course of action is vital to protect jobs. We considered a number of alternatives including a proposal by Unison that would have led to almost 200 redundancies. We simply could not accept a proposal resulting in job losses.

“I understand it is difficult for anyone to accept a reduction in their salary. However, avoiding redundancies is our priority. The majority of staff will see their salary reduce by three per cent. Staff whose salary is reduced by more than three per cent will receive a payment of up to £1,000.”

The latest dispute is the second at the charity in three years. In 2009 the charity agreed to withdraw plans for salary cuts. In return, staff accepted a pay freeze as well as cuts to nightshift rates and other benefits.

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