More than 100 Bristol City Council workers could soon be transferred to work instead for Bristol Waste, sparking fears of worse pensions and conditions.
Council chiefs are considering transferring 122 staff across six departments, who all carry out “facilities management” roles, to the council-owned company. The Unison trade union is raising concerns, and one councillor warned “working conditions would be compromised”.
The six departments are culture and creative industries; intermediate care; asset strategy; children’s homes; Redfield Lodge care home; early intervention; and targeted services. The move follows a controversial transfer last year of about 200 security staff and cleaners.
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When workers are transferred from one employer to another, their pay and conditions are protected by rules called the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). Despite these protections, Unison has said workers could still face worsening policies on sickness and pensions, and said the union was “against privatisation”.
Speaking to the council’s human resources committee on July 21, Unison Bristol branch secretary Tom Merchant said: “We think everything that Bristol City Council wants from this can be delivered in house. TUPE does protect people’s terms and conditions as they go across, but the policies that dictate how things happen to people change.
“Sickness policy, how to get your pension, all of that stuff. The pension regulations only require them to be the equivalent, not the same. And there’s always the uncertainty and the sadness of being taken from one organisation and given to another. So Unison is 100 per cent against privatisation.”
Plans for a transfer are still in the early stages, and more details should be revealed in the autumn, when council chiefs will likely take a full proposal to the cabinet for approval. Bosses said the move would centralise staff carrying out similar roles, and Bristol Waste is expected to come forward with a business case in a few weeks.
Human resources manager James Brereton said: “There is some early engagement taking place at the moment. The proposal would be to bring those into a central facilities management team in line with the common activities programme. We hope or expect that a business case will be supplied to us by Bristol Waste in the coming weeks.
“The sessions that we’ve had so far with the staff have simply been about engagement and talking about this work so they’re aware of it. No proposal has been made. There was a comment about aiming for the cabinet in September. That’s an ambitious timescale, it may slip from September.”
But the transfer has prompted questions about how these roles in different departments will be better suited to the arms-length refuse company. The transfer last year prompted heavy objections from trade unions and councils, concerned about worse pay and conditions, but the council said these would be protected.
Conservative Councillor Richard Eddy said: “Last spring we were assured only the cleaners and security staff would be transferred. There was no suggestion of ‘this is just the beginning of a journey’.
“To talk about 122 staff in such areas as intermediate care, asset strategy, children’s homes, early intervention — how can you explain this is more suited to be transferred to Bristol Waste, rather than staying with the council? As was the fear of people last time, their working conditions and prospects would be compromised. We have a big issue here.”
