BT Fleet members unaffected by G4S contract loss but KCOM TUPE rolls on

Telecoms & Financial Services February 27 2018

The CWU has been working hard to allay members’ concerns within the BT Wholesale & Ventures line of business after the loss of two major contracts triggered potential TUPE situations.

Assurances were sought and ultimately received from BT Fleet Solutions, however, that no CWU-represented grade employees would be impacted by G4S’s decision not to renew a three–year contract with BT Fleet for the maintenance of its Cash in Transit vehicles.

Urgent clarification had been requested by the union after news of the contract loss was broken to staff in a special communication to all BT Fleet Solutions employees early in January.

The union had pressed hard for definitive answers amid feedback of anxiety amongst members and a surge of CWU membership applications from individuals who had not previously joined the union. Several weeks later the company confirmed that:

  • No garage technicians were in scope for TUPE transfer to CVL,  the successful bidder,  as none work exclusively on G4S vehicles
  • The Birmingham Customer Service team, which does currently operated as a dedicated G4S hub, is not in scope on account of a pending reorganisation which means that, by April 1, when their TUPE would have become due, they will have been absorbed into a ‘shared service team servicing a number of accounts’
  • Three Sheffield-based insurance claims handlers are similarly exempt from TUPE transfer because BT will continue to deliver this service for G4S, so no ‘transfer of service’ applies.

Welcoming the news, assistant secretary Brendan O’Brien said: “This is just the outcome we’d been hoping for with no-one leaving BT Fleet Solutions. For a number of CWU members there had been an anxious few weeks and BT Fleet’s commitment to its staff in this situation has been commendable. Responding to CWU pressure they moved swiftly to get some concrete answers”.

  •  Meanwhile the CWU is now deeply involved in the more challenging TUPE of around 150 staff in BT’s Managed Services Organisation to KCOM (formerly Kingston Communications) – intent on ensuring that TUPE protections are followed to the letter.

This TUPE was triggered by KCOM’s move to in-source previously outsourced work on its Horizon contract – news that was broken to staff just before Christmas, though it didn’t become clear until mid-January who exactly was in scope for TUPE transfer. Many of those affected have been subjected to successive TUPE transfers in recent years.

“While this means those affected will generally  be familiar with the TUPE process and the safeguards it provides for transferring employees, this is clearly a deeply unsettling period for everyone,” said assistant secretary Brendan O’Brien.

“The situation is complex on account of the earlier TUPEs and, working alongside BT, we have involved member representatives with experience of Nortel, KCOM and BT contracts. There are also a couple of apprentices whose interests we are also looking after.

The CWU formal meetings with KCOM are now underway and discussions will continue on a weekly basis throughout March, prior to the TUPE becoming effective on April 1.