Any Advice appreciated

superclan

Any help would be much appreciated on this as it is quite complex.

I work for a large blue chip company that has recently advised my department that we are to be out sourced. We are a relatively small team so part of our work is taken up by contractors. The company is going through a major move to a site 35 miles away but there will still be a need for my department at the current location.

We were told that we can transfer to the new company (not yet known) however not under normal TUPE conditions as they have said due to the re-organisation they can apply ETO, this as we have been told is due to the restructure of other parts of the business. The true fact is that somebody will still be required to do our job. We now have the choice of transfering to the new company under their terms and conditions i.e considerable wage drop, no pension, more hours (we do 8 they do 12) or taking redundancy. Is this allowed ?, we are in a trade union but they do not seem to be working for us. We have actually asked the company if there is any way we can negotiate so we keep our jobs and are waiting a reply. It just appear the Company wants to wipe the slate clean of its own employees and replace them with contractors.

Many thanks

jazzyman01

Why do they think ETO would apply? Is the company in receivership? If the jobs are still there then they would transfer unless they are substantially different. Travel distance is also irrelevant.
If you are not getting any help from your local union rep, contact the main office - they have lawyers so you should get some help.

Pete111

Sounds like you should make the argument that this is TUPE to your employer

Tribunals generally take the view that it's TUPE unless the company can prove ETO applies (and this is not easy) - not the other way around.

Get assistance from your union as JazzyMan says above.

superclan

The company is definately not in receivership, it not long ago pronounced profits for the half year of 53m.

As part of our consultation which is taking part with 120+ employees from our warehouse we asked the question as to wht ETO is being used and not TUPE. Their answer is that TUPE does apply but it is an ETO situation because they are re-structuring due to the changes elsewhere. If this was the case we would accept it but our job will still require doing no matter how many people are left. In another question we asked about us being able to transfer to the new company (because they might not need us) the company answers that TUPE applies so we have an entitlement to transfer to the new company.

It's all very confusing.

jazzyman01

Get this in writing that the company acknowledged it is TUPE, or at least get confirmation from others at the meeting that the general consesus was that they agreed TUPE applies. Cannot see where they are going with this if they continue to deny TUPE applies.