RFA Newsletter
November 2023
HAVE YOU VOTED YET?
VOTE YES FOR STRIKE ACTION
HAVE YOU VOTED?
RMT are currently running a ballot of members employed at RFA to ascertain if you would be willing to escalate to industrial action for a better pay offer. I urge you all to continue to vote YES to Industrial action, even though we are in talks with RFA Management with the assistance of ACAS. The talks started on 1st November and we are still a long way off from coming to an agreement but we are sitting around the table talking and seeking a resolution that is acceptable to our membership. To assist with leverage and to seek an improved offer it is fundamental that members vote in the postal ballot. Obviously, our desired outcome is to be in receipt of an offer that is acceptable to our members, and our primary focus is to achieve a negotiated offer without the need for escalation to industrial action. Our next talks are scheduled for the end of November when all parties involved can attend, if we can progress negotiations and get an improved offer RMT members will get to determine if this is acceptable via an electronic referendum. We are working closely with our sister union Nautilus International who are engaged similarly with their respective members to achieve the improvement our respective members deserve.
PAY UPDATE
In September 2023, RFA Management met with RMT to discuss the final 22/23 pay offer and look at possible soft options to ease in the pay offer and implement it in the November payroll. No soft options were suggested by RFA Senior Management, so RMT suggested an increase in allowances, leave parity and increasing the final pension food emolument daily rate to help ease the pay implementation. This was dismissed by senior civil servants and management. RMT was told that the hands of the RFA are tied by the Treasury and the pay award was out of there control. RMT representatives asked if a special business case was presented to the Treasury to ask for a pay increase outside of Treasury remits. This would also save the RFA haemorrhaging crew and also make them a more desirable employer to the seafarer as the Government in the past has had two bites of the Civil Service Pension Scheme making it less attractive to a future generation of RFA sea going personnel by removing benefits to employees who joined the organisation after 2015. RFA reminded RMT they had just signed a new build contract with Harland and Wolf, Navanti UK and BMT for three new Fleet Solid Support Vessels to replace its current Solid Support Ship Fort Victoria and is hoped to increase its current workforce by 450 personnel across all Grades by 2028/9 when the first Solid Support ship is due for delivery and the pay offer for 23/24 was clean with no cuts in any other areas. Although the future of the RFA looks good in black and white – with future builds and job security for the loyal employee – the workforce manpower shortages of seagoing personnel must be made a priority by increasing our wages and making us want to stay in the RFA by making it a more desirable place to be, that lets us get on with our job without the constant interference of unnecessary Naval exercises. We see gaps in all departments, especially on deck with a recent recruitment drive via SERCO being fruitless. It is clear times are desperate as CNR are now ringing around old employees of the RFA and asking them if they want to come back and re-join! NAAFI have been appointed to ships with more than 200 personnel onboard and I fear it won’t be long before they are tendering for laundry, STWDs and Asst chef duties as well as anything else that can help them make a profit like they already have in areas on RN ships. RFA will say its to plug the gaps in departments and not to stress or exhaust the remainder of the ship’s company. This could be true but how long is it until it becomes normal and acceptable? Members thoughts and feedback would be appreciated on this.
SHIPS VISITS UPDATE
RMT Officials and the RFA Convenor visited vessels in Liverpool, Portland, Plymouth and Falmouth to meet members and update them on the ongoing situation regarding the escalating RFA pay offer of 4.5% for substantive Grades and 5.0% for Apprentices and Cadets. During the meeting members voiced their concerns at the diabolical shortage of crewing levels onboard the ships in all departments as well as the discontent with the pay offer. RFA is clearly suffering from a recruitment and retention issue as more and more seafarers seem to be leaving the organisation than joining due to the erosions of terms and conditions, plus the 18% pay gap between other blue light organisations and the wider maritime employers. During the visits to RFA ships RMT officials took the opportunity to increase the number of RMT members giving potential members information about the benefits of being a member of the RMT in the RFA and the important role the Convenor and success that has been achieved during his time in post and ensuring your voice is heard in all forums that he attends and raises concerns on your behalf. Ships visited were RFA Fort Victoria, Tide Race, Tide Surge, Tide Spring, Argus, Lyme Bay, Sterling Castle and Proteus by RFA Convenor Ian Parkin, Asst National Secretary Mark Carden & RMT organising unit member Ian Boyle.
DAILY REPRESENTATION OF RMT MEMBERS
A lot of time is being taken up representing members on misconduct cases, these vary from minor through to Gross Misconduct. The cases that we have been dealing with are wide ranging, and by way of example, include but are not limited to: theft, harassment, falsifying documentation, health and safety breaches, damage to goods or property and breaches of the drug and alcohol policy. We will always ensure that members are represented to the highest of our ability and we ask in return you be as open and honest with us when preparing the case, so that we can look at any mitigation that may have impacted your subsequent actions. We should note that we have an increase in gross misconduct cases resulting in dismissal from the organisation, whereby in recent years this may have resulted in a final written warning. This is why it is crucial to ensure that during the preparation of your case you notify us of the full facts and be as open and transparent with your RMT representative as possible. Unfortunately, we do-not have a magic wand to resolve issues, but we will exhaust all avenues including using our Legal Services for tribunal claims if required to defend RMT members employed at RFA. The management culture within RFA is changing and even though we are struggling to retain and attract the correct number of seafarers, individuals will not be treated more favourably by management because of decades of loyal employment within the company. To-date, we have more success stories than failures when it comes to disciplinaries, and representation is just one benefit of being a member. Please ensure you talk to all colleagues and make every effort onboard to maximise RMT membership across RFA to help get our voices heard.
SICKNESS AND ABSENCE MANAGEMENT
RFA shoreside Managements are now following policy and reaching out to people on long-term sick. This has been raised in many quarterly meetings and now they are following the appropriate policy and conducting Staged meetings for the individual with Absence Team members. It is your right to have representation at any of these hearings and they are treated confidentially Unfortunately, a sick member cannot decline a meeting unless it is supported by a doctor’s recommendation to do so, and this will only postpone the meeting as RFA have a duty of care to all and it must be followed as per policy. In recent years, the application of implementing the policy is something that failed to occur, and members found themselves at home on the sick going to half and subsequently zero pay with no guidance from the organisation. Should you have query on this matter then please get in contact with your convenor.
YOUR NEC REPRESENTATIVE SPEAKS UP
With the ballot for industrial action currently in progress for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, I thought it prudent to put pen to paper to reassure RFA membership that I am keen and keeping a close eye on what transpires. As you will be aware we took short of strike action a few years ago and what I witnessed on board first hand was the dip in morale for the membership having to carry this out as “work to rule”. This action caused a bit of friction in the membership and a lot of people were unhappy with the way it was conducted. I appreciate we, as RFA, are a unique entity with regards to our ways of working closely with the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence, and we aren’t as flexible in carrying out industrial action as our other Merchant Navy counterparts, who are not bound by MOD criteria.
I took up my role with the RMT NEC in June, after being elected to this position for eighteen months. I believe that being in this position enables more engagement with the union and allows us to express our own idiosyncrasies with working practices. Our pay offer is a detriment to the work that the RFA completes, and as such, I have spoken at length to Ian Parkin regarding the feelings of the membership that I have engaged with. It is important that we get as many RMT members as possible to take part in this ballot, and I urge all of you to encourage your own network of RFA members, reminding them of the urgency and importance of voting to achieve a mandate from you, the members of RMT. As always, if any of the RFA RMT members have issues or questions, please direct them to Ian Parkin in the first instance and he and I will be able to discuss anything that needs to be actioned.
Yours Fraternally, Olly Longden RMT NEC Region M1 Representative
NEXT QUARTERLY MEETING
The next RMT quarterly meeting is due to take place at NCHQ Whale Island on the second week of January (Date TBC). If members have any questions or issues that cannot be resolved via the rep onboard, please let us know so we can escalate this at the meeting, Members can also attend the meeting and any interested members who wish to do so are to reach out and contact the Convenor so this can be arranged.
FUTURE HEALTH & SAFETY MEETINGS
The next HQ health & safety meeting is scheduled for December 21st. Any concerns should be raised via your H&S rep onboard and if not resolved via the CEO, if this still gives you concerns please email the Convenor at R4@RMT.org.uk or Ian.Parkin779@mod.co.uk so it can be raised at HQ level.
EQUALITIES COMMITTEE
RMT wrote to COMRFA to seek a join Trade Union Equalities committee and seek tri-partite engagement in the form of a committee to discuss such matters. Despite an initial response confirming receipt we are disappointed that whilst the National secretary Darren Procter has chased a response on 2 separate occasions, we have yet to receive anything from the Commodore on this important matter. RMT will continue to ask questions of your employer and to develop a committee for equality issues within the RFA.
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
RMT Convenor Ian Parkin recently attended a Remembrance Day service in Sunderland with past and present members of RMT/NUS to pay respects to the service and sacrifice made by MN seafarers and armed forces.
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