Staff and students rallied against planned privatisation of over 10% of campus jobs in Library Square this lunchtime.
Staff had come equipped to disrupt a planned 'bidders meeting' with many carrying airhorns, only to discover management had moved the meeting to the Amex stadium across the road. With security and conference staff amongst those facing outsourcing, this suggests management don't feel able to hold such meetings on campus without the details leaking out and the threat of disruption.
The 235 jobs facing privatisation include catering, porters and security staff. If the plans go ahead, staff will have their terms and conditions transferred over to their new employers under 'TUPE' laws. However, the history of outsourcing suggests this offers limited protection, as new hires are brought in on inferior terms and the workforce is divided. There are also fears that long-serving university staff will be moved out of the university pension scheme.
Resources for Sussex workers: guides to workplace organising | guide to sick-outs | a guide to working-to-rule
Comments
Also, with TUPE, the new
Also, with TUPE, the new employers can always say they need to restructure a little down the line and then cut pay and conditions.
Also, not all terms and conditions are protected under TUPE, just some. Redundancy payment rights, for example, don't transfer
yeah, having been through
yeah, having been through this process myself turns out TUPE is a (toilet) paper tiger.
like steven says it can have implications for pensions.
also terms and conditions can be changed post TUPE for "valid economic, technical or organisational reasons." so that pretty conclusively covers pretty much all situations ever.
in addition i'm lead to believe that any collective bargaining agreements in the contract that get transferred over do not have to honoured by the new organisation.
Yes, that's correct re
Yes, that's correct re collective bargaining. A big reason behind outsourcing/privatisation is breaking up workers' organisation.
Quite recently, precedent was also set taking away cost of living pay increases to TUPE transferred workers
Thanks, that's useful to
Thanks, that's useful to know. I spoke to some cleaners who'd been through outsourcing with a previous employer, and they'd all been made redundant by the new employer and made to reapply for (less) jobs. So yeah the reassurances this is about catering for expanded student numbers not cost-cutting ring hollow.
Does anyone know of examples of outsoutcing being stopped, especially in education? I can only think of the Royal Mail failing to find a buyer and the London Underground maintenance being forced back in house. A common feature to both was a militant workforce, though in the latter case contractor mismanagement played a big part too.
Nearest thing at Sussex was
Nearest thing at Sussex was the campaign to stop the closure of the chemistry department.
Sussex students occupy business centre against privatisation | A year of struggle at Sussex uni | University department closures thread
Wasn't that the
Wasn't that the context/result of the 2001 Brighton refuse workers dispute?
Again, both militancy and contractor mismanagement (or so I'm led to believe) apply.
Yeah that's right; in 2001
Yeah that's right; in 2001 workers and local residents occupied the Hollingdean Depot and forced the council to take refuse collection back in-house. In fact, I think we know a few people who were involved in that, could look into getting them to speak to Sussex workers to swap notes.
Have cross-posted with link
Have cross-posted with link to Anticapitalist Initiative:
http://anticapitalists.org/2012/05/23/sussex-uni-300-staff-and-students-demonstrate-at-lunchtime-protest/
If that's not ok, let us know!
Cheers,
Luke
Luke, that's fine. Including
Luke, that's fine. Including the 'resources' links at the end would be good; there's been some talk of 'if we all called in sick tomorrow...' so I think it's good to put the info out there, alongside any official action that comes in the following months.
UCU have a brief report up here, including:
Sussex UCU
Sounds like management intend this to be one of several waves of outsourcing and casualisation, if they're recruiting a specialist accountant for the purpose. Although Job 617 has now disappeared from the university jobs page... Did anyone catch the closing date, or have they pulled it as it gave away their game plan?
Joseph Kay wrote: Although
Joseph Kay
The closing date was 18. May, but the page is still in the google cache cache:sussex.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/617
The full job description is still on the Sussex server.
Ta; grabbed the pdf and
Ta; grabbed the pdf and quoting here for posterity:
Sussex Jobs
Another demo yesterday, with
Another demo yesterday, with a third one planned for Tuesday. Pics: