Penny-pinching outsourcing giant Serco has been declared the winner
of Unite, the UK’s and Ireland’s largest union, Scrooge employer of
the year award. Serco received the unwanted award, despite
facing stiff competition, due to its actions on the St
Bartholomew’s NHS contract. The company agreed to pay the London
living wage but used a formula to calculate it resulting in workers
only being paid £10.17 an hour not the standard £10.20 an hour.
Serco were only paying the London...Request free trial
Penny-pinching outsourcing giant Serco has been declared the winner
of Unite, the UK’s and Ireland’s largest union, Scrooge employer of
the year award.
Serco received the unwanted award, despite facing stiff
competition, due to its actions on the St Bartholomew’s NHS
contract. The company agreed to pay the London living wage but used
a formula to calculate it resulting in workers only being paid
£10.17 an hour not the standard £10.20 an hour. Serco were only
paying the London living wage for 52 weeks a year and not the
calendar year (52.18 weeks).
Over an 18 month period Unite members were underpaid by
£60, which following intense pressure from the union, Serco was
eventually forced to repay.
Serco beat stiff competition to be awarded Scrooge
employer of the year. The runners up spot was taken by TGI Fridays,
which earlier this year decided to take 40 per cent of the card
tips received by waiting staff, who are only paid the minimum wage
and employed via zero hours contracts, knocking £60 off the weekly
wage packet
In the bronze medal position was Veolia, which received
the nomination for its commercial waste contract in Cheshire where
workers are being unpaid for a sixth shift if they work more than
five in seven days.
Other companies to be nominated include XPO Logistics
for failing to pay workers correctly over a six month period and
Pyrsmian Cables and Systems in Wrexham which tried to sugar a below
inflation two per cent pay increase by offering staff a free
sausage or bacon bap.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said:
“Declaring a company as Scrooge of the year may on the
face of it light-hearted, but for our members, who have suffered
the misery of working for tight fisted-bosses, this is no laughing
matter.
“Unite’s Scrooge awards barely scratch the
surface of the major and minor injustices that workers experience
in the workplace every day, at the hands of miserable bosses,
determined to boost their profits by squeezing every last penny
from their workforce.
“This year’s Scrooge nominations have been
in workplaces where Unite is organised and where thanks to Unite
the injustices have been righted.
“The Scrooge awards show that with Unite on
your side penny-pinching bosses will not be allowed to get away
with exploiting workers or denying them their
rights.”
Unite regional officer Ruth Hydon who nominated Serco
said: “Serco has sought to squeeze every last penny of
profit out of the St Barts contract, primarily at the expense of
its staff.
“Unite members have repeatedly stood
together and fought back against Serco’s attacks on their pay and
terms and conditions. Their solidarity and determination should be
applauded.
“Taxpayers will be horrified to learn money
earmarked for the NHS, is ending up in the pockets of privateers
such as Serco, which then further boost its profits by attacking
workers’ pay.”
