Members of the Unite union at Whitechapel who are employed by the Balfour Beatty/ Morgan Sindall/Vinci joint venture voted overwhelmingly to accept the offer after extensive negotiations.
Unite is calling on other Crossrail contractors to follow suit and also introduce productivity payments.
Unite regional officer Guy Langston said: “BBMV approached Unite late in 2016 to open negotiations on a productivity scheme for our mechanical and electrical grades on the Whitechapel Crossrail station development. Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Vinci are the only contractors on Crossrail willing to have meaningful negotiations with Unite on implementing a productivity scheme. Crossrail refused to get involved and effectively washed its hands of the whole process.”
He added: “The entire Crossrail project has been beset with problems – our members have renamed the project the 'Hokey Cokey line' as they continually fit out, only to remove work that has been wrongly designed. This has contributed to low morale on what is Europe’s largest rail infrastructure project because the client Crossrail has tried to deliver the scheme on the lowest rates of pay.”
The productivity performance scheme linked to milestones is in line with the JIB national agreement and will see workers receive a raise equating to £4.44 an hour (£867 a month), which includes a paid one-hour mid-shift break, covering all grades including apprentices. The productivity performance scheme linked to milestones will involve consultation with Unite stewards with a review of the scheme in December 2017.
Meetings are scheduled with Balfour Beatty and its subcontractor VVB to discuss implementation of a similar bonus at the Woolwich Arsenal site.
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