Unions demand 5% pay increase for Peabody workers

Pay up Peabody

Despite bumper surpluses housing workers at Peabody have repeatedly suffered real terms pay cuts.  Now they are saying “enough is enough." Below is the text of a Unite leaflet.  Peabody management say that financial performance is especially strong; their staff say "we cant take more real terms pay cuts."

Unite members outside Peabody's head office

Pay rises under inflation

After successive years of under infationary pay rises, Unite the Union says it’s time for Peabody to pay all of its hard working staff a fair pay increase in this year’s negotiations.  Unite the Union says that only a 5% pay rise across the board, including our former Peabody Older Persons directorate colleagues, will help put right the years of net losses caused to the real value of staff take-home pay.

Peabody surplus of £175 million

Both Unite and our fellow trade unionists in Unison will be pressing for some of the benefits of the merger savings to be passed on to the staff who have put so much effort into the creation of the new Peabody, which reports a £175m surplus in 2018 (source - Peabody financial report).  Unite says that it’s time that the employer backs its staff - just as they have backed Peabody since merger.  Peabody Unite says - a 5% pay rise for all staff!

Reasonable income

Peabody Unite - 5% Pay Claim 2019 This pay claim is prepared and presented on behalf of members of Unite the Union who are covered by the recognition agreement between Unite the Union and Peabody.  The pay claim addresses matters of importance to members of the Union and the Employer.  It addresses the need for a substantial rise in pay and changes in conditions for our members - and indeed across the organization - to maintain a reasonable level of income.

£3.1 million staff savings in 2018

Peabody Unite’s case is that both its members and fellow colleagues within Peabody, have created the successful figures reported in the Peabody annual: -Peabody surplus £175m (Peabody financial report 2018) - Customer satisfaction ratings 78% - Peabody, 82% - FM, 98% - Care and Support -Peabody Credit Rating ‘A3’ - £3.1m ‘establishment’ staff savings in 2018 as a result of merger. -£19.2m overall merger integration savings target. “The finnancial performance for 2018 is an especially strong result ...” Susan Hickey, Chief Financial Oficer.

“It costs more to live and work in London now than ever before”

These strong fgures have been created by the efforts of its staff, Peabody Unite will therefore be filing a 5% pay claim for its members, including our former Peabody Older Persons directorate colleagues, based on the following: -Current RPI in?ation stands at 3.1% (Q1 2019 - source statista.com) -RPI infation is forecast to run between 3.1% and 3.2% for 2019/20. -The combined group wage costs have fallen from £96.2m in 2017, to £93.6m in 2018. -“It costs more to live and work in London now than ever before. Workers deserve a sustainable income that reflects this ...” Brendan Sarsfield in the Peabody Low Pay Report 2018. - Peabody pay rises for the last five years have been at levels below RPI inflation, leading to a real loss of value for staff take home pay.

8th April 2019