Strike vote by TTS staff threatened with redundancy

Monday 04 April 2016

Manual workers at the Department of Infrastructure have voted for strike action over plans to make them redundant and pay private companies to do the work instead.

The results of the ballot were passed to ministers on Friday – it’s the first time that employees have voted to strike in three years, but the vote only covers the Infrastructure department (formerly TTS) not the entire States workforce.

The department has previously said that it plans to cut 61 jobs by the end of the year – they say that the move is about saving money, citing a contract with Andium Homes that could be done between 30% and 50% cheaper by the private sector.

Cutting costs by “outsourcing” cleaning, rubbish and gardening jobs, which has prompted a dispute and now the strike ballot by unions, is a key part of ministers’ plans to meet a £145 million deficit that is expected in public finances by 2019.

The States are aiming to cut £70 million from the States’ pay bill as part of a package of measures to fill the looming deficit, and will be revealing their full plans in June.

Unite official Nick Corbel confirmed that “hundreds” of staff members had taken part in the ballot, but said that the precise figures were confidential.

“Members at the Department of Infrastructure have voted for strike action and industrial action short of striking, in relation to the employers’ plans to privatize services and dismiss workers,” he said.

“The margin for action short of striking was high – around 85%.

“The margin for strike action was lower, however it does give Unite the mandate to organize industrial action if deemed necessary.

“We are still trying to negotiate. It is only when both sides acknowledge failure to agree that we can then progress to industrial action.”

The last strike ballot was over the workforce modernisation plan three years ago, but the parties reached an agreement and no strike took place.

Mr Corbel said that showed that strike action was not inevitable, but added that the margins of the ballots demonstrated the strength of feeling within the membership.

“The way that this had been arranged by the Department of Infrastructure has been appalling,” said Mr Corbel.

“It is one of the worst cases that I have come across in terms of managing organisational change.

“I would suggest that it is going to lead to exploitation and abuse of zero-hour contract arrangements, and variation of terms and conditions. That is not something that we are prepared to accept.”

The next meeting between Unite and the Department of Infrastructure is due to take place in three weeks.