Employees who work for electricity distribution organisation Western Power Distribution, and who are members of the trade union Unite, are to receive a two-year pay deal effective from April 2018.
The pay deal, which will benefit 6,000 employees based across the South West, Midlands and Wales, includes a 4.2% pay increase, effective from 1 April 2018, as well as an April 2019 pay rise that will be set at 0.5% above the Retail Price Index (RPI). Employees have been guaranteed a pay increase of at least 3% in 2019.
Unite states that the pay deal will mean that on average, employees will receive an additional £1,260 a year from April 2018.
Matt Tipper, regional co-ordinating officer at Unite, said: “This is a union powered pay deal for thousands of energy [employees]. The deal means two years of inflation beating pay increases for thousands of [employees] based across the South West, Wales and the Midlands.
“[An employee] on an average salary will get an extra £1,260 in their pay packets this year, followed by another inflation beating increase in 2019. The deal is clear proof of the benefits of having Unite in the workplace to power [employees’] pay.”
Western Power Distribution declined to comment.