Siemens pay industrial action ballot

BECTU members in Siemens SIS working on BBC contracts are being balloted on industrial action in response to a 2.15% pay offer.

Following protracted negotiations, Siemens management have refused to improve their initial 2.15% offer, which had previously been rejected by 80% of members voting in a ballot at the end of March.

That ballot followed a previous refusal to increase the 2.15% figure in January, despite inflation at the time running at 4.1%.

The company is currently in the second half of a two-year pay deal.

As part of that deal, it had been understood by the union talks would re-open on the 2.15% offer, set last year, if it fell short of the inflation rate in January.

This is the second successive year an industrial action ballot has been run in Siemens SIS.

In the last ballot nearly 74% voted in favour of industrial action, resulting in an improved two year pay offer which was accepted in August 2007.

It is the second year of this offer which is now in dispute.

The current industrial action ballot closes 1200 on Friday 18 July 2008.

Siemens SIS, formerly part of BBC Technology, looks after BBC broadcast technology and projects including IT, broadcast critical data and the Corporation’s internet and intranet servers.