Circular No. NP/191/10/MC

04^th November 2010

H.O. Ref: R14/5

TO: ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL COUNCILS, REGIONAL OFFICES,

COUNCIL OF EXECUTIVES & HO OFFICERS.

Dear Members,

RMT PAY BULLETIN

October 2010

September 2010 retail prices index rate: 4.6%

The September 2010 retail prices index rate is 4.6%. This is down from 4.7% in August. The Government’s preferred measure of inflation, CPI, is at 3.1%, with no change from August.

The largest downward pressures to the change came from a variety of transport costs:

· air transport where fares fell by 27.8 per cent this year compared with a fall of 23.8 per cent a year ago. The largest downward effects came from long haul and, to a lesser extent, European routes

· fuels and lubricants where prices, overall, fell by 0.8 per cent between August and September this year but rose by 2.3 per cent a year ago, principally reflecting a fall of 1.1 pence per litre in petrol prices this year compared with a rise of 2.4 pence per litre a year ago

· falling second-hand car prices between August and September this year compared with price rises a year ago - there were reports of stock shortages leading to higher prices for second-hand cars during 2009

The largest upward pressures to the change in CPI inflation came from:

· clothing and footwear where prices overall rose by 6.4 per cent this year, a record rise for the August to September period. The largest upward effect came from women’s outerwear where prices rose sharply this year with the 2010 autumn season

· food where the largest upward effects came from meat and fruit. Meat prices rose by 0.3 per cent between August and September this year but fell by 1.2 per cent a year ago. The fall last year was a record for an August to September period. Fruit prices overall fell between August and September this year but by less than a year ago

As you can see the price of daily necessities such as food and clothing continue to rise at an alarming rate.

In pay submissions the RMT will continue to emphasise that your financial commitments have increased at a much greater rate than inflation and your living standards have suffered as a result.

Full-time Average Weekly Earnings by Occupation

Labour Research has published an analysis of average full-time weekly earnings based upon the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2009 (up-rated).

Occupation/Sector	Weekly Wage (£)
All workers	592.60
All male	648.80
All female	505.70
Managers	870.80
Professionals	791.00
Associate Professionals*	612.10
Admin & Secretarial	415.40
Skilled/craft	488.90
Services**	352.30
Sales	327.40
Operatives	448.00
Other manual jobs***	349.80

* Associate professionals includes technicians, nurses, police, firefighters, media/PR workers, train drivers, legal and finance workers and sales reps

** Services means personal service occupations such as care workers, travel assistants, hairdressers, caretakers

*** Other manual jobs includes farm workers, labourers, dockers, postal workers, porters, waiters and cleaners

Recent non-RMT settlements

Company /Sector	Award	Effective From
Sainbury’s	· 2.3% increase to basic pay	5 Sept 2010
Cadbury’s	· 3.7% increase to basic pay	29 Mar 2010 (backdated)
Babcock, Davenport	· 5.2% increase to minimum rates	1 Oct 2010

Recent RMT Settlements
Company	Award	Effective From
TOC & Freight
FREIGHTLINER HEAVYHAUL	· 1.7% for all staff, plus £500 (1.8%) for all staff covered by the previous ‘catch up’ agreement.	1 Oct 2010
SOUTH WEST TRAINS	· 5.2% increase to basic pay (Guards’ Option)	4 Oct 2010
Shipping & Offshore
OFFSHORE DIVING PERSONNEL	· 6.1% increase to basic pay	1 Nov 2010

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow

General Secretary