The TUC has today (Thursday)
warned that government plans to weaken the Transfer of Undertakings and
Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations will drive down terms and conditions
for vulnerable workers and make privatisation cheaper and quicker.
TUPE protects employees’ terms
and conditions of work when a business is transferred from one owner to
another. Staff automatically become employees of the new employer on the same
terms and conditions as they were on before, and their continuity of service is
also protected.
However, under the government’s
plans TUPE will not always apply when services are outsourced.
These changes will lead to the
erosion of the pay and conditions for low-paid staff in sectors such as
cleaning, social care and catering where outsourcing is common, says the TUC.
It argues this will have an adverse impact on women, who are more likely to be
employed in contracted-out services than men.
In addition, employers will now
be able to re-negotiate changes to collective agreements one year after
transfer. This will give them extra flexibility to cut pay and conditions after
a transfer takes place.
TUC General Secretary Frances
O’Grady (pictured, above) said: “The changes announced today could see hundreds of thousands of
vulnerable workers lose out on vital protections at work. This is a deliberate
attempt to make privatisation cheaper and quicker.
“Weakening guarantees on pay and
conditions will encourage companies to compete for contracts based solely on
wage and other employment costs, and not on the quality of service. This in
turn will increase the risk of poverty wages for the many female employees who
work in industries like catering, social care and cleaning where outsourcing is
common.
“Today’s announcement will also
see dismissal and redundancy rights watered down for outsourced workers. This
is a blatant attack on the ability of unions to represent working people.”
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