Workplace Report March 2009

Bargaining news

Pay freezes on Payline

LRD’s Payline database has logged 19 pay freezes since 1 January, some 26% of the new pay deals recorded on the database this year. Of these, eight are media companies (largely local and regional press), while 11 are from other sectors including Cargill Cocoa, Crown Paints, Ibstock Brick, Ignis Asset Management, Indesit, and Kohler Mira. Yet despite the headline-grabbing pay freeze trend, a considerable majority of deals are still delivering substantial pay rises and the range of new pay deals in the last three months, including staged deals, extends from 8.22% to zero. The median increase for the three months to February according to Payline was 3.3%.