Serco plans to illegally subcontract core services
Serco is not allowed to subcontract core Driver Examiner Services. But, in an apparent breach of the terms of their contract with the government, Serco plans to contract out services in the Downsview road test call-booking centre.
The Confidential Information Memorandum of Dec. 2001 clearly forbids the contractor from sub-contracting core services. Core services are defined in the Request for Qualifications and Expressions of Interest (RQEI) and include specifically the “call centre operations.”
OPSEU has learned SERCO plans to sub-contract out these 15 jobs even though they are defined as core services in the RQEI. These members were not invited to the Serco presentations and some have outstanding conversion grievances.
Job Opportunities . . . but not business as usual
What has Serco got planned for you? For most driver examiners, you will go from 40 hours a week to 44. Does this mean a big raise? No, your pay will be reduced to $35,000, unless you have your M2 qualification, Serco’s web site says. Some thanks for all the hard work and years of service.
More on Serco: Do you feel lucky?
Serco wants you to trust them for six months. but who are they? To learn more about Serco, it is interesting to look at their behaviour around the world. An Australian web site has some insights:
In its annual report SERCO boasts that it is a ‘task management contractor to government and industry providing comprehensive support services across a wide range of applications’.
Translated into ordinary people’s lingo it means the company wins big dollar contracts and makes profits by getting rid of people - and sharply cutting the pay and conditions of the people who still have a job.
Commuters using the Adelaide bus system have been almost in shock since SERCO, and others, took over some of the privatized bus services in April this year.
More than half the bus drivers lost their jobs when the public transport system was privatized.
The local papers are running shock horror stories about timetable grumbles ‘cause the new privatized buses (are) not turning up on time.
SERCO has taken over the job of managing an Atomic Weapons Establishment in the UK and . . . announced that 1400 jobs would be cut. A third of the workforce.
It is the same strategy that is about to be used in Nowra with HMAS Albatross and HMAS Cresswell, down the road in Jervis Bay. SERCO wants to offer only 15 per cent of the existing workforce any kind of job.
You can find more interesting stories on Serco’s labour relations record on the web at Workers Online:
http://workers.labor.net.au/56/b_tradeunion_nowra.html
Green Left Weekly in Australia also has information on Serco which can be seen at:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/450/450p2.htm
In the United Kingdom, www.ethicalconsumer.org says: Keeping costs down often entails making workers reapply for their jobs, cutting staffing levels or employing workers on short-term, temporary contracts. Unions have regularly come into
conflict with Serco over these issues.
And in Bradford, England, where Serco won a contract to “deliver education services,” the company tried to change the terms of their contract with the local council after the fact:
http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/archive/2003/01/04/brad_news08.int.html
What does this all add up to? According to these sources, Serco is a company that specializes in taking over public services and using them to make a profit, by cutting jobs, slashing wages and reducing services. You can judge for yourself.
Successor rights question
Serco has raised the fact that OPSEU does not have successor rights (meaning your union does not automatically follow you to the new employer). This is true only because Mike Harris made changes to the law to discriminate against Crown Employees represented by OPSEU and AMAPCEO. This is not a normal or fair situation.
Other workers do not have to fight to retain their union and their collective rights after a sale. That said, OPSEU is proud of its record of service to our members in Driver Examiner Centres.
Things were different when the federal government sold services to Serco. The Public Service Alliance of Canada has successor rights, so Serco had to accept a collective agreement the workers had negotiated with the federal government.
Nycole Turmel, national president of PSAC, says:“... SERCO was forced to stick to the collective agreement the workers had with the federal government. This was a huge victory for PSAC members . . . . You would think that the federal government and the profit-seeking corporations that want to get their hands on
public services would have learned a lesson from the SERCO experience. That is clear, successor rights should apply in such a way as to protect the economic and workplace rights that PSAC members have fought for and acquired.”
OPSEU members with no successor rights can stay with their union by signing a union card. At the time of divestment, the union can apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board to maintain your union protection. If successful, your terms and conditions of employment would be frozen, until a first collective agreement is
negotiated.
This newsletter
Please forward this newsletter to as many of your colleagues as possible. it may be their only source for the “straight goods” on Serco so they can make an informed decision about their future. Let us know what you want to see in future issues. To receive it by e-mail, send your e-mail address to
dcox@opseu.org .
Organizing: Contact OPSEU at 1-800-268-7376. Organizers for the DEC campaign are Paul Dunseith at ext.355, Ed Ogibowski at ext. 362 and Connie Huziak at ext. 327.
Your Job Security Officer is: Judith Marion, OPSEU x 370 jmarion@opseu.org
Your Reasonable Efforts Committee is: John O’Brien, Hm. (807)-628-8066; cell (807)-628-4364; jobrien2@tbaytel.net ; Gail Kreutzkamp home (519)-742-4017;
gailkreutzkamp@hotmail.com; Stephan Michnowiec, pager, 416-405-0050
Your MERC Team is: John O’Brien (as above), Serge Valcourt (705) 472-7900 x 6490, Robert Houston (519) 372-4045, Peggy Maybury (416) 235-4218. Or contact your Staff Representative or the steward in your workplace.
DEC Notes is published as a regular update for OPSEU staff in Driver Examiner Centres. More information on the government’s planned transfer of services can be viewed at:
http://www.opseu.org/campaign/mtooindex.htm on the OPSEU web site.
Authorized for Distribution:
Leah Casselman, President
