{"id":22707,"date":"2020-07-14T16:09:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22707"},"modified":"2020-07-14T16:09:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:09:42","slug":"council-outsourcing-firms-told-to-come-clean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22707","title":{"rendered":"Council outsourcing firms told to ‘come clean’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Companies with council outsourcing contracts are being urged to open their books so that Unite the union can check that they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be using Covid-19 as a smokescreen to shed jobs, and cut pay and conditions.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite is targeting the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098top five\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 local government outsourcers, which are claiming financial hardship, but are refusing to let the union have the financial data to see if their claims stack-up.\u00c2\u00a0So far, the bosses at\u00c2\u00a0APCOA Parking; street cleaning outfit\u00c2\u00a0Continental Landscapes; leisure management company\u00c2\u00a0Fusion Lifestyle; controversial social enterprise giant\u00c2\u00a0Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL); and waste management firm\u00c2\u00a0Urbaser\u00c2\u00a0have all stonewalled Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite estimates that, in total, these five companies hold more than 70 local authority contracts and employ at least 16,500 workers in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGLL has replied refusing to provide the financial data and the other firms have declined to respond at all to our \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Open the Books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese companies are claiming financial hardship \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but stonewalling when it comes to Unite scrutinising the books. This is especially true of GLL and Fusion Lifestyle whose executives have been in the media saying that they are in danger of going under,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, when the union has raised the matter with GLL managers, they have responded by saying that they are in good financial health. So who is telling the truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is only one way to find out \u00e2\u20ac\u201c GLL and, indeed, all local government contractors which claim that they are in difficulties must be open and transparent over their financial state of health. It is time for these companies to come clean,” Kasab went on to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members need to know that their pay, jobs and futures are safe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and Covid-19 won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be used as a smokescreen for possible job cuts down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJob and pay cuts in this sector have not happened on a mass basis yet. However, we know that GLL has begun a redundancy consultation for headquarters staff. GLL also has a standard clause in contracts allowing the company to cut pay by five per cent during times of economic hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGLL and Fusion staff have been on furlough, but the suspicion remains that when the scheme ends in the autumn job losses and pay cuts will kick-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBosses cannot have it both ways. If companies are in financial trouble, they need to start talking to the unions now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not when it is too late,” Kasab continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLocal authorities also need to be on high alert \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if contractors cannot afford to run services, they must be taken back in-house immediately.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite is using the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act to strongly remind the five companies that it is obliged to provide the union with information needed for collective bargaining purposes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In normal circumstances, the union would examine the most recently registered company accounts to assess the ability to pay staff. However, in the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, Unite can no longer rely upon these accounts to give a true financial picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Shaun Noble<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies with council outsourcing contracts are being urged to open their books so that Unite the union can check that they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be using Covid-19 as a smokescreen to shed jobs, and cut pay and conditions.\u00c2\u00a0 Unite is targeting the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098top five\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 local government outsourcers, which are claiming financial hardship, but are refusing to let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[1295,998,946,647],"wps_subtitle":"Companies with council outsourcing contracts are being urged to be open their books","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22707"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22709,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22707\/revisions\/22709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}