RMTnews :: october 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 4 DIVING DEAL: RMT general secretary Bob Crow and regional organiser Stan Herschel (centre) signs deal with Diving company representatives following the settlement of the 44.7 per cent pay deal. F or a long time unscrupulous employers have exploited a loophole in the law which allows them to include public and bank holidays as part of the statutory four week paid annual leave entitlement. This is now set to change. From October 1 2007 statutory annual leave entitlement will increase to 4.8 weeks (24 days for a five day week) and to 5.6 weeks (28 days for a five day week) from April 1 2009. As the annual leave year starts at different times for different groups of workers, the new entitlements have been worked out on a proportionate basis. This means that the benefit of the additional leave is applied on a pro-rata basis from October 2007 depending on the proportion of your current annual leave year that follows this date. This change only applies to those employees that currently have bank holidays as part of their leave entitlement. You will see from the ‘ready reckoner’ chart, that further increases are then made incrementally up to April 2009. To work out precisely how many days you are entitled to, multiply the number of weeks by the number of days you usually work a week. Example 1: In 2007/08 your annual leave year starts on February 1 and you work four days a week. The calculation is 4.27 weeks x 4 days = 17.08 days Example 2: In 2007/08 your annual leave year starts on April 1 and you work five days a week. The calculation is 4.4 weeks x 5 days = 22 days. Example 3: In 2008/09 your annual leave year starts on June 1 and you work five days a week. The calculation is 4.93 R MT and OILC activists continue to reach out to offshore workers by distributing joint union materials to the hundreds of workers flying offshore from heliports in Aberdeen. Organising unit co-ordinator Alan Pottage said that activists always got a positive response from the workers. “They are encouraged to see the OILC and RMT working together and feel that, at long last, their voices will be heard,” he said. RMT's membership amongst offshore workers has grown at a steady rate and OILC's membership will decide at their annual conference this month whether to proceed with the Transfer of Engagements with RMT. Appendix A Leave year starts 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 1 November 4.07 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.27 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 December 4.13 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.33 weeks 5.6 weeks 2007 2008 2009 2010 1 January 4.2 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.4 weeks 5.6 weeks 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010 1 February 4.27 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.47 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 March 4.33 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.53 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 April 4.4 weeks 4.8 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 May 4.47 weeks 4.87 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 June 4.53 weeks 4.93 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 July 4.6 weeks 5 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 August 4.67 weeks 5.07 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 September 4.73 weeks 5.13 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks 1 October 4.8 weeks 5.2 weeks 5.6 weeks 5.6 weeks ALL CHANGE FOR ANNUAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENT ORGANISING AT HELIPORTS Diving Deal