STRIKE AT WIGHTLINK

RMT is in dispute with Isle of Wight ferry operator Wightlink over pensions and conditions with members voting for strike action on various dates between April and June. Wightlink’s plans to close the defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to existing employees and reintroduce flexible working practices seen in the first six months of the pandemic led RMT to ballot members in December and a large majority backed industrial action. RMT said that Wightlink management was exploiting the second wave of the crisis by trying to force through permanent contractual changes and pension cuts. The union was also appalled by the cavalier attitude of the company to consultation over their plans and the failure to take up financial support that could have mitigated the current situation. Last month the Treasury announced £6.5million to keep ferry services running between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, the second package of state funding for Wightlink and other lifeline operators during the pandemic. Yet footage has emerged online of Wightlink CEO, Keith Greenfield describing the money as “numbers I don’t recognise from the scheme details I’ve seen”. And that it is “unclear” how Wightlink and other Solent operators can access this support.  RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that Wightlink’s loyal staff had given up pay and mucked in to see the company through the first wave of the pandemic and now they see the employer turning their nose up at public funds to maintain the supply chain and links to emergency NHS treatment during a second, deadlier wave of Covid-19. “This is no way to run a lifeline ferry service in a time of deepening crisis and I urge the employer to take up unconditional financial support from the taxpayer and then get back around the negotiating table with RMT,” he said.  Over 400 workers, including seafarer to ticket office grade are in dispute following the employers’ refusal to withdraw proposals to close the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to existing members and reintroduce flexible working practices which all employees were subject to in the first six months of the pandemic. At the height of the first wave of the pandemic (April to September), Wightlink employees also loaned 20 per cent of their salary to allow the company to keep trading. The company has chosen to repay the generosity of their employees by slashing pension rights and making permanent changes which undermine working conditions. Wightlink received taxpayer support from the £10.5 million announced by the Department for Transport in April for lifeline ferry operators to the Isle of Wight and to the Isles of Scilly to maintain services in the first wave of the pandemic. However Wightlink has continued to pay out millions of pounds in dividends to its various private equity owners, extracting funds from the company that should be used to support the hard working staff who have maintained Wightlink’s lifeline supply chains in these unprecedented times.  The table below lists the profits, dividends and annual wage of the highest paid director at Wightlink Limited. RMT members are employed by Wightlink (Guernsey) but they are part of the same Group. In July 2019 Canadian private equity outfit Fiera Infrastructure acquired a 50 per cent stake in Wightlink. Basalt Infrastructure (formerly Balfour Beatty Infrastructure) owns the other half, having paid £230 million for the entire company in 2015. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2021 :: RMTnews 4 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2021 :: RMTnews STRIKE AT WIGHTLINK Company refuses taxpayer support as members prepare for strike action WIGHTLINK LIMITED FINANCES 2015-19 Year[1] Pre-tax Profits (£m) Dividends (£m) Highest Paid Director 2014-15 10.034 None £714,000 2015-16 13.684 11.750 £278,000 2016-17 21.771[2] 14.200 £233,000 2017-18 15.040 15.300 £334,000 2018-19 16.654 14.494 £348,000 TOTAL £77.183m £55.744m £1.907m [1] Latest accounts cover period to 31 March 2019