{"id":13791,"date":"2017-10-24T14:32:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T13:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13791"},"modified":"2017-10-26T11:03:06","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T10:03:06","slug":"pay-snatch-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13791","title":{"rendered":"Pay snatch outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Greedy outsourcing firm ESS is attempting to force Unite cleaners and housekeepers at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) facility in Gosport to take two weeks unpaid holiday a year in a cynical bid to save money.<\/p>\n

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The group, mostly older women who work part time, have said they \u00e2\u20ac\u015brefuse to be bullied\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by ESS who took over cleaning services last year under an MoD<\/a> contract.<\/p>\n

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Around 30 low paid<\/a> staff at the Fort Blockhouse armed services training facility were asked to sign a letter saying they voluntarily agreed to reduce their contracts from 52 to 50 weeks a year.<\/p>\n

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After many refused they were told the reductions were compulsory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Managers and supervisors at the site, which provides accommodation for armed services personnel training there, will not see their contracts reduced under the proposed changes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The letter came as ESS, part of the ESS Compass Group, prepared to submit a bid to the MoD to continue providing services to the facility.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo us it feels like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve put in a cheap bid to try and retain that contract. We shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be used like that,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said\u00c2\u00a0one Unite member.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to be bullied into changing our contracts. When we were told about it we thought \u00e2\u20ac\u0098this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fair\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t apply to all ESS employees and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened after the living wage went up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt felt like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re giving with one hand and taking with the other.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The member\u00c2\u00a0explained that for some staff losing two weeks salary would make the job unfeasible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome people are looking at losing \u00c2\u0141500 plus a year. One woman said that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the cost of her car. If she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to run it, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to take public transport which is more money lost. So can she afford to keep the job?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Bob Middleton said the group \u00e2\u20ac\u201c many of whom have loyally worked at site for years, originally for the MoD and then for outsourced<\/a> companies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c deserve better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bESS are doing this on all their (military) contracts. The reason is they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing it is to win MoD bids because it is a very cut throat business,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Middleton said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBasically it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another greedy contractor that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempting to exploit their staff by reducing working hours. What can they do with two weeks? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like you can get another job during that time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite is appealing the decision with ESS and will hold a protest against the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions in the upcoming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greedy outsourcing firm ESS is attempting to force Unite cleaners and housekeepers at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) facility in Gosport to take two weeks unpaid holiday a year in a cynical bid to save money.   The group, mostly older women who work part time, have said they \u00e2\u20ac\u015brefuse to be bullied\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by ESS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[150],"wps_subtitle":"Firm forces cleaners to take two weeks unpaid holiday","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13791"}],"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=13791"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13806,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13791\/revisions\/13806"}],"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=13791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}