Print workers get 3%

A national agreement for 2005, worth £7.50 a week for the lowest-paid print workers, has been agreed between the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) and skilled and professional union Amicus.

The negotiations leading to the deal, conducted against a backdrop of employers' claims that they could not fund a pay increase, were described by Amicus assistant general secretary Tony Burke as "difficult, to say the least".

The union has agreed that the cost to employers of the agreement, which will see the basic Craft/Class I minimum grade rate rise from £248.78 to £256.28 a week, will be recovered in full through improvements in efficiency and productivity at company level.