After consulting with Unite’s legal officer sadly it was confirmed that we cannot legally attack the pay date change enforced by Crewlink and Workforce.

Employment law is very specific about changing pay dates – even though it is a change in contract terms and conditions, the date when employees’ receive their wages is handled as a separate issue. As long as a company is not leaving their staff without payment for an extended period and they provide financial support to gap the bridge between the last regular pay date and the implemented new pay date in a form of an interest free loan, they have a right to change the pay date.

Knowing the above we still have reached out to the agencies as many of our members were not happy with the change of pay date. Mike Parker from Unite met the representatives of Crewlink and Workforce today in Dublin and they have given us the following assurances:

– Even though the pay date change will have to go ahead, the agencies do not wish to leave anyone out of pocket
– The salary advance of £631 that is due on the 28th May will not be taxed
– If anyone feels like they will not have enough funds to get through the month until the 28th June, get in touch with Sylwia Woloch (CWK) or Andrew Swan (WFI) to discuss this issue with them. They are in a position to offer further interest free loans to employees. These requests and the conditions of these loans will be dealt with on an individual basis as everyone’s financial conditions are their own personal and confidential matter.

Even though we will not be able to make any further steps on an industrial level we are pleased to see that the agencies have meaningfully considered our approach and ensured us that no one will have to be out of pocket until the next pay day. It is our belief that Crewlink and Workforce will offer support to their employees in that matter.

We sincerely hope that the pay negotiations with Crewlink and Workforce will continue in the same spirit of goodwill as it was shown today.