Community improves sick pay in shoe industry deal

Pay rates for around 6,000 workers manufacturing 20 million pairs of shoes a year have increased by 2.5% this month under a new agreement between the Community union and the British Footwear Association.

The two-year deal, which provides a uniform percentage increase for all grades, takes the minimum weekly rate to £201.88 for workers aged 18 and over on a 39-hour week.

Other improvements include:

* the introduction of a sick-pay scheme paying 50% of average pay for 12 weeks; and

* an increase in paternity leave to two weeks on average pay, rather than the previous system of one week on average pay and one on statutory paternity pay.

In the second year of the deal, all rates will be increased by a further 2.5% or the retail prices index, whichever is the greater. The sick-pay scheme will also be improved, to four weeks at 50% of average pay followed by eight weeks at 75%.

Describing the new sick-pay scheme as "groundbreaking", Community assistant general secretary Bas Morris said the agreement showed that the industry is still "alive and kicking".

Recent improvements in family-friendly policies indicate that employers recognise the need to attract a new generation of workers into the industry, he added.