City Link drivers are 'worst off'
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DRIVERS AT PARCELS delivery company Initial City Link are to strike on Wednesday (4 May) amid claims that they are among the lowest paid in the country.
The RMT union says the oneday action, which will affect 17 depots, has been triggered by an imposed 2.5% pay increase.
General secretary Bob Crow says this is below the rate of inflation and equal to a pay cut:"Members have voted by 89% for action."The union says the company's lowest paid drivers at its Swansea depot now receive £4.97/ hr for a 48-hour week —just 12p/hr above the National Minimum Wage. Drivers in London are said to receive between £6.09 and £6.50/1ufor a 40-hour week.
Initial City Link has 70, mainly franchised, depots; the strike action is confined to the in-house depots which are chiefly in the South-East but also cover Carlisle. Norwich and Cardiff.
A company spokesman claims only 76 of the 242 ballot papers issued are thought to have been returned and of those only 68 backed industrial action.
-In 2004 driver grading was introduced and drivers received increases significantly above inflation that year," he adds.