In House Techs to TUPE in Sept?

[860]

All Telewest service techs,
Have a look at wednesdays AM routing there will be a meeting.
More than likely along the same lines as installs

[pooky]

just spoken to some service techs who have just received texts saying they have a meeting in the morning, doh

Just heard on radio BBC2 business news that BT are taking on about 1600 techs and engineers.

[hairy_mick]

After getting over the shock of this i have read a letter which i recived with an imformation pack i quote " Following the recent announcement by steve burch concerning the outsourcing of certain areas of our operations id like to share with you our proposals for instalations. Following the completion of the merger at the begining of march installations was identified as an activity where the company could create a clear and consistant operational approach benefiting our customers, as well as achieving synergy savings by potentially transfering our remaining in-house operations to our outsourse partners. Therfore, allowing us over time, to meet our other key objectives of increasing effciency and growing revenues.

this bit concerns me. Subsequently, we carried out two seperate pieces of work to validate this approach. Firstly, the financial and strategic assumptions were tested. Secondly, we've worked with a small groupe of UNION and COLLEAGUE representatives to identify any alternative approaches that we may not have considered during the original planning process". So these people have been having meetings so will i be able to get the minutes of these so called meetings to see how they came to this conclusion.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by only me

IBM i think.

People in ntl need to join BECTU so we have a voice it seems ntl are just walking over us at the moment, fair enough if they have to make cuts but please be fair at least offer redundancy, I would rather live under the arches than work for the contractors around here.

Do not join BECTU as these muppets have done absolutely nothing for us over the years, i have and many others have joined CWU, these have actively supported us over the past few months and have encouraged and phoned to make sure we get more people to join them.

Over the years i have never heard of any talk or help concerning the job losses and re-orgs that we have had. There was a vote recently as to wether people wanted to have union representaion, the vote was worded such as to wether we still wanted BECTU to stay a the recognised union or not at all. Obviously most voted for at least having a union, not do we want a diferent union to represent us. Basically a vote for them is a vote for the management.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by sollp

Do not join BECTU as these muppets have done absolutely nothing for us over the years, i have and many others have joined CWU, these have actively supported us over the past few months and have encouraged and phoned to make sure we get more people to join them.

Over the years i have never heard of any talk or help concerning the job losses and re-orgs that we have had. There was a vote recently as to wether people wanted to have union representaion, the vote was worded such as to wether we still wanted BECTU to stay a the recognised union or not at all. Obviously most voted for at least having a union, not do we want a diferent union to represent us. Basically a vote for them is a vote for the management.

sollp, can you clarify something for me.

Wasn't BECTU the tame union that ntl chose to get into bed with and do a deal when the CWU were posing a threat just after the cwc merger?

[sollp]

Originally Posted by Escapee

sollp, can you clarify something for me.

Wasn't BECTU the tame union that ntl chose to get into bed with and do a deal when the CWU were posing a threat just after the cwc merger?

A BIG yes.

Happened again just recently, the vote i just explained, they new that the merger was inevitable and the vote was worded like i explained. They know that support for CWU is increasing and the vote was a farce basically.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by sollp

A BIG yes.

Happened again just recently, the vote i just explained, they new that the merger was inevitable and the vote was worded like i explained. They know that support for CWU is increasing and the vote was a farce basically.

I thought so but couldn't be sure.

I joined an equally useless union with a company I worked for before ntl. That company did a deal with the "Dustmen and cleaners union" they were no use and played a clever trick to make members think they had secured a better rise than they actually had. I am still a member in fact, and have been since 1996. As far as I was concerned it was useful if I ever needed representation, I would of changed to the CWU if they had been recognised, but didn't see any point moving from the GMB to BECTU.

I wish all you guys the best of luck.

[martyoo7]

Hi all
ive been an ntl employee for 9.5 years and this news has came as a massive shock to me,however my manager has been putting his feelers out over the past couple of days and apparently an ntl service truckroll currently stands at £20.00. and there is currently no contractor who can deliver a service call for this price.Judging by the amount of poor quality stb,s we put in do you think ntl will keep paying a contractor for repeat calls???

[sollp]

Originally Posted by martyoo7

Hi all
ive been an ntl employee for 9.5 years and this news has came as a massive shock to me,however my manager has been putting his feelers out over the past couple of days and apparently an ntl service truckroll currently stands at £20.00. and there is currently no contractor who can deliver a service call for this price.Judging by the amount of poor quality stb,s we put in do you think ntl will keep paying a contractor for repeat calls???

YES, if it mean't that overall they made a saving. Quality and standards mean nothing when they are saving money.

Think you'll find it cost more for a service visit than £20.00, more like £50.00+

Where abouts have you been working if this has been a massive shock?

[martyoo7]

Nope.My manager in Teesside service dept quoted me £20 on good authority from the same guy who delivered the cull in installs this week.I must admit,i did think this number was a bit low but we,ll just have to see??

[kibblerok]

Originally Posted by sollp

YES, if it mean't that overall they made a saving. Quality and standards mean nothing when they are saving money.

Exactly.

Its debateable whether they do make a saving company wide though. Cost per truckroll may directly fall, but it will be passed on through other departments/costs, poor customer experience and higher churn.

I expect the figures look fab on paper though, at ntl thats all that counts.

I find it hard to believe that a company the size ntl is now can pay another private firm per truckroll who takes slice of the profit for a cheaper cost than in house. If that is the case then ntl need to be looking closer to home for their problems and inefficiencies.

[times up for ntl]

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

As of 8am today all in house techs (installations) have been told that they will be transfered to a contractor on the 1st of september TUPE this effects aprox 391 people well to say iam dissapointed is an understatement and all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this anybody else been affected by this today.

i cant see how the company will last with the state of the contractor, how they treat there staff, and the turnover of staff

---------- Post added at 23:47 ---------- Previous post was at 23:38 ----------

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

Its going to be hard to change your working ethics to that of a contractor now lets be honest they are there to make money at all costs where i like to provide the customer with a good service since i worked for the company now i wont be working for ntl but for a contractor. I'am not saying all contractors are all bad its just such a big switch.

dont worry mate just leave your drill on hammer, and your a contractor already

---------- Post added at 23:49 ---------- Previous post was at 23:47 ----------

Originally Posted by Oven Chips

Do you and the lads see this as better or worse than redundancy then?

money talks, and thats what were gonna lose now

---------- Post added at 23:51 ---------- Previous post was at 23:49 ----------

its time to pull our pants up, we've been f**ked again!!!

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by martyoo7

Nope.My manager in Teesside service dept quoted me £20 on good authority from the same guy who delivered the cull in installs this week.I must admit,i did think this number was a bit low but we,ll just have to see??

That's a too simplistic way of looking at it.

Firstly by outsourcing the £20.00 it moves it looks better on the ntl Balance sheet. It stops being a direct overhead and is now a bought in 3rd party service. Which can be reviewed and retenderd for every few years to make sure the price stays low.

Also I'm pretty sure that £20.00 doesn't include what ntl pay for in Pensions, Sickness benefit, Holidays, Sickeness Absence.

By hawking you all off to Map, Avonline, Kellys - whoever, they save on all that.

[pooky]

hi im a tech who will be tupe'd to contract in the north east on september 1st, can anyone give me any insght as to the terms and conditions that i can expect once this happens.( i have always felt that my job was a case of start at the bottom and work your way down)

---------- Post added at 13:43 ---------- Previous post was at 13:36 ----------

as for the service techs who had recieved a text yesterday morning saying there was a meeting on wednesday morning, they recieved another text in the afternoon apologising and stating that they should not worry, their meeting wasnt about tupe but working practices, does this mean that the installers should worry, *****s