Hertel’s Teesside employees accept 4.8%

Union members at industrial services provider Hertel on Teesside have voted by a three-to-one margin to accept an improved pay settlement worth 4.8% – and a management undertaking to bring their pay and conditions in line with the company’s national agreement.

Painters, scaffolders and general labourers on Hertel’s contract at oil giant ConocoPhillips’ Seal Sands terminal had previously voted to take strike action over an initial offer of 3.6%.

The improved deal, marking an end to six months of negotiations with the Amicus section of general union Unite, was reached shortly before the strike was due to begin last month.

Regional organiser Bob Bolam said the workers were “very happy to get on with the jobs they are paid to do and have the extra money in their pay packets”. With recent pay awards in Teesside’s chemical sector ranging from 3.9% to 5.1%, he added: “I think they have got a good deal.”