News

National Trust for Scotland staff up in arms at pay hikes

Finance | Gareth Jones | 9 Sep 2008

Staff at the National Trust for Scotland have been angered by a raft of pay rises for senior management, according to a top union official.

Alan Denney, national secretary for the Prospect trade union, told Charity News Alert that staff feel there is “one rule for the Indians and one for the chiefs”.

“Our members didn’t get a pay rise this year as the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) pleaded poverty and said it needed to turn its finances around.

“As is well known, people in the charitable sector do have a tendency to accept less than those in other sectors, and when they heard about the financial problems they were willing to make the sacrifice.

“But then the annual report came out a couple of weeks ago and showed these big pay rises for senior management.”

The NTS annual accounts for the year ended February 2008 reveal that nine members of staff had a salary of more than £60,000, compared to just one in 2006.

The highest earner, chief executive Mark Adderley, received between £170,000 and £179,999, an increase of approximately £40,000 on the previous year.

This year’s pay deal

In this year’s pay deal, staff were told they must accept reductions in sick pay and payments to survivors in the event of death, in order to retain the pay ladder which ensures staff get an incremental rise for each year of service.

This meant that 2 per cent of the 5 per cent increase loyal staff should have received was lost, while there was also no adjustment in the pay scale to account for inflation.

Indeed, the pay ladder has not changed since 2005.

Denney added that while no action can be taken at present as the situation is not technically a legitimate trade dispute, next year’s pay talks have been jeopardised.

"The negotiations for the next deal were going to be based upon performance and contribution, and I can say that that is probably dead in the water now because it’s like one rule for the Indians and one for the chiefs.

“They will be expecting a rise at least in line with inflation in the early months of 2009 or they will want to be balloted for industrial action.”

Changes have ‘safeguarded Trust’s financial future’

A spokeswoman for the NTS emphasised that these changes had come as part of a “fundamental restructure” to safeguard the financial future of the trust.

“In 2007, as part of the three-year plan, the Trust identified key areas of expertise which were not available at that time at senior level and created new posts as part of a refreshed leadership team with greater responsibilities.

“These posts were integral to the future delivery of that plan and the longer-term success and stability of the Trust.

“All salaries associated with these new posts were assessed and benchmarked by external specialist consultants.”

Tweet

Directory: National Trust for Scotland
Who's Who: Gareth Jones