{"id":13483,"date":"2017-09-21T14:09:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T13:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13483"},"modified":"2017-09-22T11:33:47","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T10:33:47","slug":"mitie-fine-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13483","title":{"rendered":"Mitie fine mess"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has pledged \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmaximum support\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for its members working for Mitie after the company announced yesterday (September 20) that it may slash up to 480 jobs.<\/p>\n

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The announcement comes as the outsourcing giant, which provides services such as cleaning, security, maintenance and pest control, has issued a string of profit warnings and only last month came under fire by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).<\/p>\n

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In August, the FCA launched an investigation<\/a> into the timing and content of one of Mitie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s profit warnings it issued last year.<\/p>\n

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And only a month before, the accountancy watchdog the Financial Reporting Council launched a probe<\/a> into Deloitte\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s auditing of Mitie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s accounts.<\/p>\n

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The beleaguered Mitie, which has benefited massively from privatisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its workers clean NHS hospitals, maintain schools, and run immigration detention centres \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has over the years come under fire for providing services on the cheap.<\/p>\n

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In 2013, a suicidal inmate at a detention centre run by Mitie set himself on fire and the fire quickly spread, with nearly 200 people having to be evacuated \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the company had failed to install fire sprinklers<\/a> despite a fire and rescue service warning them to do so after a similar fire a few years before.<\/p>\n

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In 2015, Mitie was fined 67 per cent of its monthly profits<\/a> at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) after it failed to provide adequate services.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cost cutting programme <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The company is now undergoing a cost-cutting programme, revising its initial estimate for the programme up from \u00c2\u014115m to \u00c2\u014124m.<\/p>\n

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The company has already cut 200 jobs and blamed the rising cost of its restructuring programme, which aims to save \u00c2\u014140m by 2020.<\/p>\n

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Mitie has also blamed Brexit uncertainty and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098economic pressures\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for its recent woes but Unite has pointed to a culture of mismanagement that, it fears, the workers will eventually pay for.<\/p>\n

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Last year, when Mitie chief Ruby McGregor-Smith stepped down in her nearly decade long role in charge \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just after the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first profit warning \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she took home \u00c2\u01412.6m that year, while Mitie cleaners and other workers are barely eking out a living on the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

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Of the latest announcement that nearly 500 jobs may go, Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will be seeking an urgent meeting with the company to discuss the implications of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement and how these job cuts will impact on the many sectors and activities that the company covers.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is clear that Mitie has managerial problems at the top that have been brewing for some time and the investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) relating to a 2016 profit warning does not engender confidence,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe hope that workers are not paying for their jobs because of poor decision-making by senior management and questions over financial auditing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it would leave a sour taste in the mouth if they were.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has more than 1,000 members working across Mitie and if their jobs are affected by today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement, the union will be giving them maximum support during this difficult time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has pledged \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmaximum support\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for its members working for Mitie after the company announced yesterday (September 20) that it may slash up to 480 jobs.   The announcement comes as the outsourcing giant, which provides services such as cleaning, security, maintenance and pest control, has issued a string of profit warnings and only last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[767,126,252],"wps_subtitle":"Unite vows max support in savage jobs slash plan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13484,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13483\/revisions\/13484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}