Future Shape – Putting the record straight

Workforce Issues

One of the key issues for staff is what would happen to their terms and conditions of they were privatised.

We have raised this issue in our weekly meetings and have published Briefing 3 (amended) seeking a commitment to TUPE Plus. To date we have not had a formal response to our TUPE Plus proposal. The longer there is no response the greater the anxiety for staff.

We have had some comments made about potential future employment in particular this statement on the Councils Future Shape web page

Question: “The Council’s only signed up to TUPE, not TUPE plus.”

Reply: “This isn’t the case. The Council is committed to only working with partners that have admitted body status, or can offer a pension scheme better than the local government one. It is also committed to the Code of Practice on Workforce Matters, which means that staff transferring under TUPE to a partner will receive the same nationally negotiated pay awards as they would have received had they remained in local government. Both of these are TUPE plus as they are not covered by TUPE and they serve to protect the pensions and terms and conditions of staff.”

First of all we need to deal with the sentence “It is also committed to the Code of Practice on Workforce Matters,”

The simple fact is that the Council have not monitored or enforced the Code for staff who have been previously transferred. For the past three years the Trade Unions have been trying to ensure the Council takes this matter seriously, promises have been made but nothing has been done.

If the Council wants to allay staff fears of what may happen to them if they are privatised they need to formally respond to our Briefing 3 (amended) and ensure that the Council start enforcing the Code now.

Trade Union consultation

We do meet weekly and we have had a lot of discussions about various types of provision. Over the past two months we have published 6 Briefings but have not had a formal response to any of them.

Our Briefings relate to staff, service provision, contract monitoring etc. For some reason we have had no formal feedback which is undermining the consultation process and creating unnecessary anxiety amongst the workforce.

If there is nothing to hide then we need more openness.  

If the Cabinet agree the recommendations in the Cabinet report they need to ensure that communications are dramatically improved.