Capita TVL strikers deserve better, says CWU

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CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey (pictured addressing the picket line) praised striking Capita workers for their solid support in yesterday's walkout, which saw hundreds of CWU members bring TV licensing to a halt.

Workers at Bristol and Darwen, Lancashire, took action in their ongoing fight for a fair pay rise from the company, which has offered increases at around half the rate of inflation.

Speaking to a lively picket line outside the company's main TV licensing headquarters in Bristol, Andy said: "You deserve better and Capita should know better," adding, to cheers from the strikers: "We've shown the company that we're not giving up."

With office managers standing on the office steps listening to his every word, Andy spelled out in no uncertain terms that this could become a long-running dispute and that a variety of tactics and strategies would be deployed by the union.

And there were red faces among the watching bosses when CWU Bristol Branch secretary Dave Wilshire noted that one of them had been standing on the office steps all morning. "It can't have been a very busy day in there if a manager can spend all morning out here," he joked.

"It's been excellent today," Dave continued, "workers showing the company that they won't accept a pay cut - which is what this is in reality.

"We'll be having more meetings out here," he pledged.

Strikers also picketed the company's Darwen call centre, where dozens of CWU members walked out for the day, while field workers stopped work from 4pm until 9pm.

Summing up the day, CWU senior Capita rep Alan West said: "Our members in Darwen had never taken industrial action before and it was heartening to see that they're every bit as determined as their colleagues down in Bristol to win a fair pay rise.

"When the company's constantly telling us that they're making profits of a million pounds a day, it's outrageous that they're offering a 'pay rise' so far below the rate of inflation that it's actually a pay cut in real terms."

This morning's latest inflation figures report hikes in both the retail price and consumer price indices - CPI up to 5.2 per cent from 4.5 and RPI rising from 5.2 to 5.6.

The pay offer currently on the table from Capita is worth around 2.6 to 2.7 per cent for higher grade staff.

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