Single status at Chloride Industrial Batteries

The April pay deal at Chloride Industrial Batteries (Clifton) secured single status for all hourly paid employees with holiday pay and sick pay to be based on normal pay, and a 1.1% increase on basic rates. With consolidation of bonus payments of £45.38 the new total basic wages are £379.55 for grade 42/62 and £367.37 for grade. Weekly shift allowances are £31.09 for the morning and afternoon shift, and £66.98 on nights. Sick pay entitlement is a maximum of 28 weeks in any rolling 12-month period, with absence levels to be monitored through a time and attendance system. Call-out payments are £36.33 per occasion, plus a payment for the actual hours worked. The annual holiday entitlement is still 25 days. Separate agreements define pay and conditions of temporary employees and new employees.

Staff status means that hourly paid employees will no longer have deductions made from pay in respect of lateness but the normal process of discipline for lateness continues. Basic pay is payable in the event of lay-off unless it is a consequence of an internal trade dispute involving the signatories to the agreement. Following the negotiation of the April 2000 agreement, unions and management agreed to a "partnership for progress" and a facilitation team was due to be formed made up of management and union representatives. Its objective is to address issues and procedure to ensure the progression and implementation of the company's "change programme".