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Barnet Council staff strike against outsourcing plans

10:20am Thursday 9th February 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Natalie O'Neill

Barnet Council staff went on strike in an ongoing fight over outsourcing plans this morning.

Around 140 Unison members went on strike for the fourth time, in a desperate attempt to stop the council’s plans to outsource staff to private companies as part of the controversial One Barnet programme.

Unison warns that 70 per cent of staff could lose their jobs under the scheme and argues council bosses want to reduce the authority's workforce to just a few hundred commissioning staff.

John Burgess, Barnet Unison branch secretary, said: “In Barnet, there’s a real likelihood services will be relocated outside the borough.

“We are fighting to protect services and for jobs to remain in the borough of Barnet.”

Councillor Daniel Thomas, deputy leader and cabinet member for policy and performance, said: "Previous industrial disputes have seen around 150 staff take action with 95 per cent of staff continuing to work as normal.

"I'm sure staff will work hard to make sure there is little effect to services to residents.

“As I've said before, we are committed to providing high quality services at the lowest possible cost to the council taxpayer.

"Any staff who move as part of the restructure will remain in the local government pension scheme, keep the same level of pay and have a job guaranteed for 12 months at the very least from their move.

"I'm sure many of our residents would envy that level of certainty in the current financial climate."

A coach full of Unison members left the picket lines this morning and are on their way to offer their services to the Larches Community, which supports adults with learning difficulties. The public sector staff will help the charity decorate the centre in Rectory Lane, Edgware.

Mr Burgess said: "This is our members saying we have withdrawn our labour from the council, but not from the public."

Comments(11)

Mrs Angry, Broken Barnet blog says...
10:59am Thu 9 Feb 12

I wonder if young Tory councillor Daniel Thomas, if he had a family to support, would feel in the position being faced by so many Barnet employees, and would he be happy at the thought that he will probably be out of a job in twelve months time? Strange too, that the overpaid senior officers, many of them in 'interim' posts and paid through their own companies in arrangements like the Student Loans guy, are not concerned about their financial security after council services are sold off to the private sector.

Many residents simply do not understand what is happening: that the council services they take for granted will be flogged off to favoured bidders who will then milk them for maximum profit, at our expense. Costs inevitably will rise, and standards fall, and there will be nothing you can do about it. Kick up a fuss now, before it is too late, and support council workers who are resisting this disaster waiting to happen.

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harvey_uk says...
11:26am Thu 9 Feb 12

I see outsourcing occurring all the time in the private sector, one of the ways companies can cut costs. If managed carefully it does work. Those in line for redundancy tend to get their heads down and work harder to prove their worth, not walk out on strike. Public sectors workers really don't have a clue on real world economics! If they get laid off and have to find work in the private sector they'll be in for major shock, lower pay, less pension (pay in yourself not funded by other tax payers), less time off and longer hours. Welcome to the real world!

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vickim says...
3:18pm Thu 9 Feb 12

Harvey, if you want to join the race to the bottom you go right ahead. Some people have more self-respect!

We need more unions in the private sector as well as the public. The big companies are laughing all the way to the bank at our expense while this spurious attempt to pit public against private sector workers goes on.

And don't you care about the quality of the services these private sector companies will deliver? I do!

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Mr Reasonable says...
3:34pm Thu 9 Feb 12

Harvey, there are two fundamental differences here between what Barnet are doing and what many private companies do and that relates to the scale and speed of the process. Firstly scale of what they are doing.

Many private companies outsource their non core services like cleaning, catering, security and sometimes their logistics operations. Can you imagine for one minute that someone like Marks and Spencer would outsource core elements of what they doing like the buying department or shop floor staff. No but that is the equivalent of what Barnet are doing. Look at some of the examples of private companies who outsourced their IT departments and have had to bring them back in house again because of the problems they experienced and which directly impacted their business performance.

The level of power that will move to the outsourcing companies should not be underestimated either. If you get a problem with your cleaning company you get a new one; there are plenty in the market place. The size of this contract means there are probably no more than half a dozen companies in the country who would even consider it. The fact that companies like Serco withdrew from the DRS outsourcing tender process early on should give you an indication of the scale and complexity that Barnet have created in bundling up so many different services into just two contracts.

The other key issue Harvey is the speed of the process. Private sector will typically test and trial initiatives. This is a s**t or bust strategy and in two or three years time when it all goes horribly wrong (which, having read the business case it inevitably will)all of the expensive consultants who are driving this project through and costing us millions will all have moved on to the next emperor's new clothes project.

What really upsets me Harvey is that senior managers have spent so much time focused on this One Barnet outsourcing that they have taken their eye off the basics of running Barnet Council efficiently and effectively which is everyone's interest, even yours!

This project is driven by political dogma not common sense and that is always a recipe for disaster.

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harvey_uk says...
4:32pm Thu 9 Feb 12

If it save councils money, and is effectively managed, BRING IT ON ASAP. Barnet council is pretty useless, never get a response on their online contact form. All those in favour of trade unions should thanks the state of the current economy on you who voted for Blair (and had Brown forced upon us) can thank yourselves for the current financial mess. I don't want us to be another Greece, Itay or Portugal.

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Mr Reasonable says...
9:17pm Thu 9 Feb 12

But Harvey that is exactly the problem. There is NO PROOF that it will save money or be effectively managed and the evidence from other local authorities who have tried this is that it actually ends up costing them MORE money. Just look at SouthWest One where the Cllr Ken Maddocks, CONSERVATIVE leader of Somerset Council said that if they could tear up their mega outsourcing contract with IBM it would save them £58MILLION. No one is against savings. The problem is that this huge One Barnet project is like a giant gamble, it might save money but it might cost a fortune. I want Barnet council to save money too. Perhaps cancelling all the expensive consultancy and legal advisor contracts would make a great start.

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Mr unreasonable and always looking for fault says...
8:04am Sat 11 Feb 12

Mr 'Reasonable' - I know of one major supermarket chain who are considering outsourcing their shelf stacking/storage of goods because too much of their efforts are going into this basic function and if someone else does it they can concentrate on sales and products.

Negative comments on outsourcing on this site are all from socialists and/or failed council candidates - not normal, unpolitical residents outraged by the proposals, they don't care who delivers the service as long as their council tax is low and the service goes on.

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Barnet Parker says...
1:43pm Sat 11 Feb 12

Mr Unreasonable,

I think after councillor's voting for increased allowances, increased parking charges, useless cashless parking systems, museum closures, library closures, undemocratic resident's forums, expensive consultants, dubious procurement processes etc etc you will be hard pressed to find 'normal unpolitical residents'. The conversations I have with people who I once thought of as apolitical suggest that they cannot wait now for Coleman Out Day on 3rd May. I'd call that politicised.

I also note a lot of people saying they can't believe they voted for this lot - roll on local elections. Clearly not socialist then, but also not wishing to face another term of Tory misrule. I can't believe outsourcing will do anything to change that. Most likely quite the reverse if it mirrors the problems with outsourcing elsewhere in the country. Didn't we have to take bin collections back to 'in-house' in Barnet once before?

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Barnet Parker says...
3:24pm Sat 11 Feb 12

Actually I've just done an internet search for 'supermarkets', 'outsourcing' and 'shelf stacking'. All I could find were business pages saying it is poor for customer service. What appears to happen is that customers ask the person stacking if they work here. They reply no and don't offer to help the customer further. Customer disastisfaction ensues. My prediction for more politicised residents still stands. Its not socialism - it's bad capitalism.

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Rog T says...
8:44am Tue 14 Feb 12

Mr Unreasonable, the most negative comments about the outsourcing on this site are from you. This is because in your attempts to deride people with genuine concerns, you display an arrogant lack of empathy with all the people who are suffering because of these changes. The attitudes of the supporters of this process tell the ordinary person all they need to know

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Mr unreasonable and always looking for fault says...
9:34pm Wed 15 Feb 12

Just googled you Rog T and 99% of your posts on your blog are anti-council and you're a failed council candidate, as is the regular commentator on these pages, Mr Reasonable, and Mrs Angry is a obviously a socialist....so your automatic criticism is to be expected and in my opinion ignored. If your comments were from the usually open minded general public then a cord has been struck but they're not.

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