LONDON, June 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- FAO: Tunbridge Wells Media

Unite will today (Thursday 26th June) leaflet staff outside AXA PPP in Tunbridge Wells. This is in reaction to the refusal by management to allow the trade union into the site.

The union has found that staff receive poorer pay in comparison to their colleagues in other AXA UK companies. The refusal of local management to allow union officials access to talk to employees on site about the benefits of union membership means that Unite has no option but to leaflet staff from outside the premises.

Graham Goddard, Unite Deputy General Secretary said: "Unite members in AXA PPP are suffering as the salaries of the staff are based on lower scales in Tunbridge Wells than in the other major AXA UK companies across the country, where pay is determined by collective bargaining with Unite.

"The local management have not allowed us access to the workforce in Tunbridge Well and for this reason we have been forced to leaflet staff outside the front gate".

At present a new starter joining on a clerical grade has a pay scale starting GBP400 lower than an equivalent employee working in another part of the AXA group. This disadvantage continues right up the grades, so PPP employees are at a disadvantage throughout their career.

The leafleting will mark the launch of a Unite campaign to get staff in AXA PPP collective bargaining rights.

LONDON, June 26 /PRNewswire/ --

For more information contact: Saba Mozakka, Unite Press Office on: +44(0)20-7420-8916 OR +44(0)7768-693-953.