Workers at a Highland aluminum plant have secured an inflation-bursting payrise following union talks.
Around 200 metalworkers at Alvance Aluminium in Lochaber, near Fort William, will be given the two-year payrise starting from next month.
The deal was negotiated by the Unite union, and will be implemented in two separate wage increases: five per cent for plant operators effective from April this year, and four per cent for those in staff and administrative roles effective from September.
A three per cent increase will then be applied to the operators pay grades from April 2025, while a four per cent rise has been negotiated to take effect in January 2025 for staff and administrators.
The payrise is above the current rate of inflation, which stands at 2.20 per cent.
The entire workforce which includes engineers, electricians, smelter operators, maintenance and administrative staff will all receive the eight per cent in the two-year pay deal.
Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham. (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a good wage deal for Alvance aluminium workers. It is a clear demonstration to workers in the local economy of the merits of being a Unite member. As a union, we are laser focused in improving the jobs, pay and conditions of our members.”
Alvance British Aluminium was bought from Rio Tinto by Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance in 2016. The Fort William aluminium plant was originally established in 1929, and it is the UK’s only remaining aluminium smelter. The smelter is powered by GFG Alliance’s hydroelectric station located on the slopes of Ben Nevis.
READ MORE:
- Union recommends NHS workers accept 5.5 per cent pay rise
- Edinburgh Tram workers to strike over toilet break dispute
There are current plans to establish a new recycling facility and aluminium billet plant. It is anticipated that this development will lead to the creation of up to 45 direct jobs.
Marc Jackson, Unite industrial officer, added: “The pay deals received the overwhelming support of the Alvance workforce. Unite is pleased to have successfully negotiated these pay deals, which will deliver a significant boost to the take home pay of our members.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here