FULL-TIME civil service union officer Andrew Lloyd has issued a response to Permanent Secretary David Bell over the compulsory transfer of support staff to the private sector.
This follows the government’s decision to split up the Department for Education and Skills.
The department has been split into the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
Around 1,800 staff from both departments walked out on strike at offices in Sheffield, Runcorn, Darlington and London on Tuesday, on the eve of the compulsory privatisation.
The civil service trade union, the PCS, says that although other staff are moving ‘across the road’ from offices in Caxton House in Westminster, to the Sanctuary Buildings, the support staff have been told they will now ‘service’ the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
‘However,’ said the PCS, ‘the work that the support staff cover has been privatised in the DWP and they now face being transferred to either Hadens or Group 4.’
The transfer was due to take place on November 1 – yesterday.
Andrew Lloyd told News Line that the compulsory privatisation of 10 jobs at Caxton House was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
In a response to David Bell, circulated on the picket line during Wednesday’s strike, he said: ‘There is no evidence that the FM Caxton House support staff have been given priority access to vacancies, and or any training.
‘Indeed the reverse is in fact more accurate.’
He said the union had asked management to investigate potential vacancies in the DIUS, as a result of the new set-up.
But ‘to date (and given the compulsory transfer happens tomorrow) we have not had any reply’.
Lloyd also said that ‘appropriate positions’ were available at the Ministry of Justice.
He said that ‘these vacancies were made available to the Support Grades at Sanctuary Buildings and NOT to those at Caxton House!’
Lloyd said the PCS had asked for training for alternative roles, but ‘this training has been refused’.
Lloyd continued that the ‘TUPE’ regulations were meant to be used ‘to protect terms & conditions of those people faced with transfer, and NOT as a reason to Compulsory transfer people.’
He accused the Department of ‘continuously’ hiding behind ‘legal reasons’ for the transfer of the support staff, but said that when the union asked for evidence of the legal advice, this was also refused.
Lloyd concluded in his response to management that the compulsory transfers were ‘an indication of the approach of the new department’.
There was a determined picket outside Caxton House on Tuesday.
Civil servants from other departments came to show their support during lunchtime.
Sheila Coote told News Line: ‘They kept trying to reassure us they could give us other options and kept us waiting about.
‘I think they hoped we would suspend our campaign while the talks were going on.
‘At the end of the day, I don’t think what they’ve done is legal.
‘The DWP has taken over Caxton House and has outsourced their facilities.
‘Normally when another government department is taking over a building, you have the opportunity to stay with your department or go with the new department. That’s Cabinet Office guidelines.
‘What they’re doing is transferring us, using TUPE, straight over to the private company that the DWP employ, so that we never got the same equal opportunities as every other civil servant.
‘We’ve had consultations with the government minister Ed Balls and David Bell, the permanent secretary, and they’ve just had us on a shoestring since June.’
Tony Holmes, another DCSF support worker, said: ‘There are seven of us facing compulsory privatisation from tomorrow and two retiring and one who is on long-term sick leave: he is a very sick man, a security guard, but they won’t even give him severance.
‘All the union can do now is fight for the next lot they’re going to do this to and they will!
‘I am for national action against compulsory privatisation of jobs in the civil service and the public sector.
‘People have been working here all their lives. How can they treat people who have given all their working lives to the government as callously as this?’
Security guard Ivan Kopchenko said: ‘They won’t let my colleague go. He’s been off for three months, asking medical people to let him officially retire on medical grounds, to give him severance.
‘What I’ve heard is they want to transfer him under TUPE to the private company. Who knows what will happen to him then?
‘I haven’t heard of civil servants being treated that way before.’
Andy Reid, a member of the PCS national executive, said: ‘The phrase everyone uses is treated as part of the fixtures and fittings and not as people and it’s not acceptable.
‘We will keep fighting to defend every single job and person because we know the government wants to do much much more of this, and that’s not on.
‘There’s a threat to transfer thousands of jobs in the DWP into what is called the “third sector’’, which is allegedly voluntary or charitable bodies.
‘But no reputable charity wants this work, so we’re getting “not for profit’’ consortiums who are really frontmen for private money.’
Andrew Lloyd, the PCS full-time officer for the DCSF and DIUS, said: ‘It’s about the compulsion issue for us – compelling people to go and work for the private company against their will.
‘We maintain there’s no need for that.
‘All these 10 staff facing compulsory outsourcing could have been retained in-house and offered other alternative jobs within the DCSF.
‘This is the tip of the iceberg.
‘Anyone who refuses to transfer tomorrow would find themselves resigned from the Department and that means their only course of action would be to go to an Employment Tribunal.
‘But we don’t want to leave individuals isolated. What we want to do is continue fighting to regain these posts by industrial methods, so we don’t rule out further action.’
Lloyd said the mass redundancies and privatisation in the civil service ‘means cuts in services’.
He said: ‘Just look at the DWP.Benefits
‘In terms of benefits you’ve got a one in a hundred chance of getting through to a call centre to get your claim processed.
‘What we’re finding is because people are unable to get their claims processed they’re having to go to charitable organisations for handouts.’
David Black, a PCS member at the DWP and Simon Foster, from the DCSF, also spoke to News Line.
‘This is the thin end of the wedge of privatisation and it’s a disgraceful way to treat junior grades,’ David Black said.
Simon Foster added: ‘I think it’s been a successful strike today and I’m sure it’s concentrated a few people’s minds that they’re not going to get away with it.’
