In House Techs to TUPE in Sept?

hairy_mick · 19-05-2006, 19:38

As of 8am today all in house techs (installations) have been told that they will be transfered to a contractor on the 1st of september TUPE this effects aprox 391 people well to say iam dissapointed is an understatement and all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this anybody else been affected by this today.

surfer100 · 19-05-2006, 21:04

yep we all feel the same. been looking on law firm web sites regarding TUPE. all terms and conditions must remain the same and they have to carry on with the pension, although it does not need to be exactly the same. can't see the contractors offering us any pension rights, considering the way they treat their own lads.

Paul · 19-05-2006, 21:16

When we were affected by TUPE we were told that it is only effective for 12 months and that after 12 months the new company could make changes if needed

mick3yc33 · 19-05-2006, 21:37

im a tech from birmingham if there are any inhouse telewest service techs from anywhere please pm me.

Neil · 19-05-2006, 21:42

TUPE only covers you up to & including the day of transfer.

[Edit]- http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/tra...page16289.html

hairy_mick · 19-05-2006, 22:48

Its going to be hard to change your working ethics to that of a contractor now lets be honest they are there to make money at all costs where i like to provide the customer with a good service since i worked for the company now i wont be working for ntl but for a contractor. I'am not saying all contractors are all bad its just such a big switch.

Oven Chips · 19-05-2006, 22:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this

Do you and the lads see this as better or worse than redundancy then?

20-05-2006, 07:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

As of 8am today all in house techs (installations) have been told that they will be transfered to a contractor on the 1st of september TUPE this effects aprox 391 people well to say iam dissapointed is an understatement and all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this anybody else been affected by this today.

First of all sorry to hear this guys.

I always said that COBI stood for Contracted Out Business Initiative. This is just the start of NTL turning into a company with only outsourced customer service, engineering and installations. In other words a management company only.

Escapee · 20-05-2006, 09:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by unlimited

First of all sorry to hear this guys.

I always said that COBI stood for Contracted Out Business Initiative. This is just the start of NTL turning into a company with only outsourced customer service, engineering and installations. In other words a management company only.

The company I currently work for contracts just about everything out, there are very few engineers and even though my title says "engineer" my job is more like a project manager.

The business is project based long term leading to maintenance of the system after x number of years. ntl could of made this work as they did to a large degree when they were building systems, but contract technicians for a functional network is stupidity. Who in their right mind would want to let a load of contractors hold you to ransome in the future. This is a very short sighted idea from some bean counter.

I understand they took Headend/Switch and Network Techs out of COBI, so perhaps someone has changed there mind on that one, and it will be just install and service techs contracted out.

I know most of the techs would like to be offered the choice of redundancy, as there would be a few takers in a some areas.

monkey2468 · 20-05-2006, 11:07

It looks to me like NET tech's will be ok, its just all call centers, all service and installs that will be outsourced. I'm not sure they would dare outsource networks. (i may be wrong though)

Escapee · 20-05-2006, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkey2468

It looks to me like NET tech's will be ok, its just all call centers, all service and installs that will be outsourced. I'm not sure they would dare outsource networks. (i may be wrong though)

Apparently it was the plan to outsource the whole lot some time before they took them out of COBI.

I was told the same story from two different managers. Quote (something like) "They were planning to outsource the whole lot including network techs" then went on to say "It was close but the merger started moving quicker than expected so it had to be shelved"

It may be a bit of hear say from me, but from my point of view it came from a couple of reliable sources who would of had involvement in implementing those changes.

Jules · 20-05-2006, 11:35

So sorry to hear this I really think it is a bad move on there part

hairy_mick · 20-05-2006, 12:36

In answer to your question oven_chips we would have taken the redundancy
and then moved on. This way ntl save the hassel and expence of paying off the workforce.

sollp · 20-05-2006, 22:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

As of 8am today all in house techs (installations) have been told that they will be transfered to a contractor on the 1st of september TUPE this effects aprox 391 people well to say iam dissapointed is an understatement and all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this anybody else been affected by this today.

Are you a service Tech from Telewest?

21-05-2006, 00:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairy_mick

As of 8am today all in house techs (installations) have been told that they will be transfered to a contractor on the 1st of september TUPE this effects aprox 391 people well to say iam dissapointed is an understatement and all the lads i work with were expecting redundancy not this anybody else been affected by this today.

Ntl probably thinks that by doing this it will have less of a bad taste with the customers. Lets face it there would be blue murder if they announced that they were going to make X amount of engineers redundant. This way they know that its not going to be there problem.

NTL will be a management company within 3 years. I am willing to make a bet that within 3 years 90% of there engineering staff with be outsourced.