Gateshead City Council give 90 days notice to all!!

[Mitsuru]

I have been told that Gateshead City Council has given ALL employees
90 days notice of termination of contract.

IN other words they are going to be unemployed!!!!

I don't know why it hasn't been mentioned on the local or national news.

The construction firm Morrisons has already lost the contract to look
after the councils houses, the current contract ends in march 2012.

What a nice Christmas present NOT!!!!

[Luxobarge]

They'll probably all get hired again immediately on different Terms & Conditions - a common tactic in the private sector, happened loads of times in companies I've worked for, no big deal. Plus it's probably got a large dose of journalistic "poetic licence" and jingoism - who told you this?

Welcome to the world of employment reality!

[Mitsuru]

my dad who works for the council, on a council contract

[tractorman]

I suspect the 90 day thing doesn't mean they will all leave in three months, it's more a case of the employer having the option to make certain people redundant at that time. It may sound a bit "Irish" but, when I was doing my student placement (in '93/4 or so), the firm put all the factory staff "on ninety days", which would have run out just before Christmas; but none of those I worked with felt threatened - they reckoned it had happened about three times in the previous two years! What actually happened was that one plant closed for upgrading and any workers who couldn't (or wouldn't) move to another part of the factory were made redundant. It's a shame that the factory closed about four years after I was there - cheap foreign chemicals made it uncompetitive and ICI and various other chemical companies changed products or closed (ICI actually make Quorn, though changed the company name to do so - a lot more profitable than "calf milk substitute" that it was originally meant to be). The wise chemical companies went to Pharmaceuticals

If Morrisons lost the contract, who will take over? Will the new people need extra staff to do the job? Will Morrisons close and make all their staff redundant, or will they have other work for some of them?

Remember - the papers tend to sensationalise stories

[Mitsuru]

If Morrisons lost the contract, who will take over? Will the new people need
extra staff to do the job? Will Morrisons close and make all their staff redundant,
or will they have other work for some of them?

Remember - the papers tend to sensationalise stories

There are those who are on council contracts but have to answer to
morrisons as they took over the tender.

One ploy morrisons tried a few months ago was to offer those who
where still on council contracts a £1,000 per year if they signed
morrisons contracts and gave up their Regular day off which was
about 13 or 14 days a year paid on top of their statutory paid
holidays.

It was pointed out that the offer wasn't worth the money morrisons
were offering, as not only would they lose financially .
But it ment that that the pensions which they had already paid
into would be greatly effected far worse than what the government
have in plan.

Morrisons also wanted to be able to use the fact that they were
new employees to morrisons as an option to make them unemployed
within the 90 days trial period without having to pay them what would
beredundancy.

Also there are regulatory legal requirements as to how many plumbers
and gas engineers and electricians are required per number of housing.
And I think they were trying to get around it.

I do know more about what goes on at morrisons than the general public!
NO Comment!!

I am a relative of an employee, the what I have stated is not yet in the press of news

[Luxobarge]

If Morrisons lost the contract, who will take over? Will the new people need extra staff to do the job? Will Morrisons close and make all their staff redundant, or will they have other work for some of them?

Remember - the papers tend to sensationalise stories

Exactly.

TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment - 1984) legislation is there to protect such circumstances. Basically it says that if your job role is moved (outsourced) to another company, then you have a right to move to that new company along with the role - and that you get to choose whether you keep your original terms & conditions of employment or adopt those of the new employer. TUPE doesn't usually affect pension rights in a negative way.

This legislation would apply to both the Morrisons workers and the council workers including your father. He can only be made redundant if the role itself actually disappears - that's the meaning of the word "redundant" - if the role continues to be required, then he has a right to continue doing it. He can only be fired under certain circumstances, e.g. gross misconduct etc. which I'm sure would not apply.

So nothing to worry about really.

[suffolkpete]

I think we need to distinguish between permanent employees and those on a fixed term contract. The OP said that the contract runs out in March, which implies that it is a fixed term and is not being renewed. That said, they still need people to do the work and they will probably be re-employed on different terms. This business of short-term contracts is an insidious development used to circumvent employment law. In my former employment, a lot of people took voluntary redundancy and came back the next week as contractors or "consultants", somewhat to the annoyance of we permies. As soon as times got hard, though, they were the first to go.

[Mitsuru]

Let me clarify this a bit more, it's not just those who are working on subcontracts
or contract for the council but all persons including those working as the council
who have apparently been given 90 days notice.

[Mrotwoman]

I sub-contract for Morrisons,and if you think the employees are badly off try looking at what the subbies get!

[hobby]

Wonder if its a follow on from this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11737145

If not enough people volunteered then the next step would be what they've done and wait to see what sort of reaction they get, enough people may decide to jump...

I'm puzzled by the Morrison thing, there are many jobs (probably the majority) that Morrisons couldn't do so i can't see how "all" jobs could be transferred to them? Sounds more like the more "basic" jobs such as cleaning, etc., which could easily be outsourced...