News / Ferry pay dispute could result in stoppages
INTER island ferry services are set to face disruption ahead of the festive period after 12 senior crew members unanimously voted for industrial action over a wage dispute.
Talks between Unite members and ferry operator Shetland Islands Council on Tuesday failed to find a solution, after which union representative John Taylor said the mates felt “betrayed” by the local authority.
The dispute relates to a job evaluation around two years ago, which originally would have given the affected staff a pay increase. But, following a reassessment during single status pay negotiations, they lost a point – putting them down a salary grade.
Taylor said there had been “no progress” in talks this week, and members would decide over the next few days what form of industrial action to take. Initially there are likely to be a series of one- and two-hour stoppages, while “work to rule” is also under consideration.
“All the members we balloted have voted in favour of industrial action,” he said. “What they believe is that they’ve been betrayed by the council.”
He told BBC Radio Shetland there appeared to be “very little” ground for negotiation.
“I accept the officials are kind of strapped in the role of single status,” Taylor said, “but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the mates had received the appropriate points to give them an upgrade.”
Mates have been stepping in for skippers “as a kindness, not a job requirement”, he said, though they do receive an extra payment for doing so.
Taylor felt the ferry service was only able to operate during skipper shortages thanks to the “goodwill” of staff, and after two years of failed negotiations now was the time for that goodwill to end.
SIC infrastructure director Maggie Sandison said the council had to treat all staff even-handedly, and it was “not an option” to take certain groups of staff out of single status without removing them from the council’s payroll altogether.
“We’re not in a position where we can treat a particular group of staff as being separate within that collective agreement,” she said.
“I think we all recognise that the staff are doing a key role in delivering a lifeline service, but the council has a collective agreement that the unions signed up to, and we must be fair and equitable to all our staff in assessing their pay grades.
Sandison vowed that the council would do what it could to resolve the dispute, and said she felt there was “some common ground” between the two parties.
“Every single sailing counts for their communities, so I think there will be impacts of the action,” she said. “Obviously the council, and hopefully the union, will work quickly to try and find a resolution to try and limit those disruptions.
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