Hundreds of security guards who protect Department for Work and Pensions staff and offices have voted to accept an improved pay offer from outsourcer G4S.
Members of the GMB union employed on G4S's DWP contract were asked for their views on the security firm's latest deal in a ballot that closed on Friday. It followed months of industrial action on the part of GMB members and members of the PCS union.
GMB has more than 1,000 members who work on the contract, safeguarding jobcentres and other DWP sites. It said that 65% of respondents voted to accept G4S's offer, based on a turnout of 91%.
PCS members working on the DWP contract voted to reject the offer, with 86% of respondents giving it the thumbs-down. However, it has fewer members working on the contract and is not the principal union in the dispute.
The pay offer will mean a majority of staff get their hourly rate increased to £11.76, which is a 32p uplift on the National Living Wage, the legal minimum for employees aged 21 or over. G4S's earlier offer was 23p above the National Minimum Wage.
Because the deal will be backdated to December 2022, it should result in a one-off payment worth at least £869 to staff, based on a 42.5-hour working week.
In August, GMB said it was giving members the chance to vote on the offer – which was tabled following talks at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service – out of concern that the backpay could be at risk if G4S lost the DWP contract.
Reacting to the ballot results, the union acknowledged G4S's offer "wasn't perfect", but said it would draw 2022-2024 negotiations to a close and allow efforts to focus on 2025 pay talks.
"The activism, energy and passion of members throughout the dispute has been amazing, and the growth in overall members and those wanting to stand up to represent GMB members on their site has been brilliant," it said in a statement.
"We are clear that there still remains much to do to continue to raise pay and conditions on the contract, and our focus will now turn to building wider pressure on DWP."
G4S expressed satisfaction at the GMB ballot result and confirmed it would be applied to all staff on the DWP contract.
"We’re pleased that our pay offer has been accepted," a spokesperson said. "We're now able to give our staff the pay rise they deserve and deliver services to the DWP and the communities they serve."
Last week, PCS announced further strike days running into mid-November in the DWP contract dispute. The union told CSW this afternoon that those strikes would go ahead.
"We have seen a significant increase in PCS membership throughout the dispute, and have had feedback that many GMB members are far from happy with the result of the ballot," the union said.
"It is likely that the pay offer will now be imposed on all by G4S, but our members want to continue fighting it, which is why we called further action."