Union presses for consultation as Consignia plans to outsource IT
jobs in £1.5bn contract.
A major IT union is seeking urgent talks with mail operator
Consignia about plans to sign a 10-year, £1.5bn IT outsourcing deal
with a consortium led by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).
About 2,000 IT staff are expected to transfer to the third party.
The deal, which is one of the largest of its kind in the UK, comes
as UK IT professionals are concerned about their working rights
during a transfer to another company, amid a period of growth in IT
outsourcing.
The Communications Managers' Association (CMA), part of Amicus MSF,
represents most of the Consignia workers affected and would rather
have avoided outsourcing IT. "Our members have a clear preference
to see a joint venture, because of concerns about job security,
location and conditions of employment, particularly pensions," said
Peter Skyte, national secretary designate of the CMA.
"We will need to have firm assurances on these, and will be seeking
urgent discussions with Royal Mail and CSC," Skyte added.
The contract is expected to include professional services; desktop
computer maintenance; and development of the company's server,
mainframe and network infrastructure.
However, the scope of the deal falls well short of the business
process outsourcing strategy recommended by consultancy KPMG last
year after its review of Consignia's practices, which could have
involved the transfer of postal delivery staff.
A consultant at Consignia claimed the company had shelved the idea
of business process outsourcing to avoid a major confrontation with
the unions, suggesting that IT workers have been singled out
because they are seen as a soft target.
Consignia has entered into final contractual negotiations for
outsourcing its business services division to CSC-led Prism
Alliance, which includes BT and Xansa.
The move comes as IT professionals are becoming aware of the risks
of transferring to an outsourcer or other company. Prudential has
been threatened with legal action by Amicus MSF over an offshore
outsourcing deal. The union claims that it failed to include staff
in a proper consultation - a basic condition of Tupe regulations
which give workers some legal protection when businesses are sold
or functions outsourced.
Prudential has denied the claim and negotiations with the union are
continuing. And in September a row over the interpretation of Tupe
regulations left 60 IT staff in limbo after an outsourcing contract
was cancelled between Lucent and Atos Origin. The staff had
believed they would transfer to Compaq, the remaining Lucent
supplier, but Compaq refused to accept them. That dispute is also
not settled.
A spokesman for Consignia said key contract details were still
being hammered out, adding that the company hoped for a "speedy"
resolution to talks with unions.
"It is in everyone's interests that progress with negotiations
continues apace," the spokesman said, adding that the deal is a key
part of the company's three-year renewal plan to return it to
profitability. "We're confident it will generate savings," he said.