TUPE revisited

Over Xmas there was some news regarding TUPE. Here is a quick summary of what on earth TUPE is, as I doubt many people know.

TUPE - a piece of British legislation that attempts to keep things fair when 2 companies fallout and give the contract to someone new.

Anyway, given the importance of it (as it affects people's jobs) when did they have the first proper meeting about it? Yep, the 19th Dec, when most people were not here.


From: X
Sent: 19 December 2006 15:04
To: Staff
Subject: HR/TUPE Briefing

Guys,

Sorry for the short notice.
The EXIT team have agreed to attend Toxania tomorrow to give staff a briefing on the current situation regarding HR/TUPE.
The briefing is open to anyone wishing to attend, naturally the overall TUPE scope will be for people only engaged on "the contract".

The meeting is at 10:30 in the Board Room, and expect to last 1h15mins.

X

_____________________________________________
From: Taylor, Mike To: X
Subject: RE: HR/TUPE Briefing

Hi X,

Happy New Year.

Seeing as this meeting was held when many people were on holiday for Christmas, can you or the exit team provide the minutes of the meeting.
Thanks,

Mike
_____________________________________________

Mike,
I couldn't attend also!

I'll see what I can do……do you have a list of non-attendees?

X

----
So nice to see that the "exit manager", X, responsible for seeing that this piece of Government legislation is done correctly has his priorities set.

Fri, Oct 29th - TUPE response

After my questions, I had not one but two managers reply, A and B. Editorial comments in green, for those not skilled in the art of Bullshitese.

Reply from A (Ginola):

Guys,

Firstly, let me state my apologies on not getting information to you sooner. But the reasoning will become clear.
[Sorry]

I've attended a number of meetings recently surrounding EXIT strategy and various handover activities. The message is constant throughout, A and B aren't in a position to release their transition plans and won't be until around early December. With that in mind, we don't know when the engineering effort will begin to transfer, we also don't know the various TUPE considerations at this point.
[I'm important and have been to meetings where nothing was decided or done.]

I'm sorry this isn't what you want to hear, and I can't give you a concise plan. All I can say is that the planning activity is going on, and we are required to deliver to the DCA for the foreseeable future and into next year.
[Sorry. Get back to work or I'll replaced you all with robots]

I can only apologise on behalf of the 3rd parties involved here, but please be assured I'm doing all I can, as are the Toxis EXIT team, to find out the information and keep you informed. We still have a programme of work to deliver to, and I thank you for continuing to do so. The quality of our work and 'your' attitude to the job in hand has, as always be fantastic.
[Sorry. I'll go to more meetings. Get back to work. Mumble, mumble some incoherent load of cock]

If you have any questions, or want a chat I'm onsite today and tomorrow. Feel free.


Thanks again,
Exit man
Hair highlights by Maurice
----
Reply B:

Q1:" I am feeling rather anxious that no-one is being forth-coming with any information at all, and people are resorting to rumour, gossip and private meetings.
A: We have already provided 2 x briefings since the announcement and a further briefing is being developed as we speak (for review and sign-off when X returns from leave next week).

Q2: Who is deciding which members of staff are in or out of scope?
A2:The process is defined in the communication bulletin specifically developed to cover "In Scope queries" issued to staff in June. Essentially the Account Mgt team are working with Capability/Project Team leads to agree outlooks. The process for defining the in scope population is largely mechanical in that staff working >50% of an FTE at the point of transition are considered in scope.
[errr - I asked who]

Q3: What criteria are they using to judge whether a person is "in-scope" or not.

A3: See above.
[anyone full-time who spends most (>50%) of their time with the customer]

Q4:What date is the in-scope list going to be made public (to Staff who it directly affects)
A4: We had planned to issue the list by now - however, the in scope population is almost entirely driven by the transition dates and unfortunately these are nowhere near being certain. A and B have started to align their plans but the output of this exercise shows that transition wouldn't be compete before end September 07.
This doesn't appear to be acceptable to the 'customer' so they are re-planning at the highest milestone level. The plans are unlikely to be anywhere near agreed before the end of November and we have agreed with the 'customer' that we wont be providing an in scope list until the Plans are agreed (this approach was clearly defined in the last briefing). We will publish the list as soon as we have a sensible one - it isn't sensible to publish a draft list now because we aren't outlooking to end September (we have only just started to think about cost outlooks to Mar 07). My feeling is that this should be sometime in December following detailed planning (though planning is already a week late).
[December? but fuck knows really]

Q5: What date is Toxic handing over work
A5: See above - their current high level plan shows transition at the end of March 07 but this hasn't been validated.
[oh, I'll contradict myself in my next breath, but I'm still just guessing]

Q6: Why are some people being asked to work beyond the "drop-dead" date.
A6: ...we have a contract with the 'customer' that we have to honour - we can't just walk away because people don't want to be in scope.
[missed the point he did]

Q7:Are A coming to "the office" to give a presentation and if so, when
A7: There will be presentations to all staff. We have met with A and B once w/c 16th October and a further meeting is planned for 3/11 to start to define the communication plan going forward.
[we're having a meeting but you're not invited]


Q8: I also feel angry that the future of peoples' livelihoods is being treated with such apparent indifference. I simply do not understand what the apparent shroud of secrecy is about. Staff deserve to know what is happening with their own jobs, specifically
A8: I don't agree with this - we are sharing information with staff as quickly as we can. Is this person reading the material that is being sent out/attending the briefings?. Future dates and planned activities (e.g. publishing the In Scope List) are always subject to change and many are outside our control.
[We are sharing...but it's out of our hands. We're not responsible. Blame them, blame them.]

Q9: What do I do if someone decides I am not in scope?
A9: Find another job in Toxic when your current assignment ends.
[oh nice. I find a new job in the company I aleady work for]

Q10: If I am not in scope, where am I going to work in Toxic?
A10: I can't answer this - typically it is up to an individual to find a position once their current position has finished. In the ADU we use "crappy tool" but not sure what the process is in ITO.
[I don't know]

Q11: Am I able to get redundancy?
A11: Presumably redundancy means Voluntary Redundancy on terms rather than Compulsory. This is subject to a whole range of variables. If not in scope then this is subject to the Company running a general redundancy package at a specific time. HR should be able to advise on this.
[I don't know]

Day 7 - TUPE or not TUPE

Thursday, Oct 26th

My return to my place of work has been complicated by the only contract/project I was working on has been given to another supplier - i.e. Toxic screwed up once (well, lots) too many. The good news is UK law means something called TUPE (pronounced two-pee) applies, which means staff from the "losers" can jump across to the "winners" on the equivalent terms and conditions.

Given I have missed out the last 3 months, I was out of the loop physically but have caught up with emails but was unsatisfied with the state of affairs. So I sent this:

Mungo,

I have been out of the loop for a while, but on asking around no-one at all can tell me what on earth is happening with X [the contract you just lost] and the publishing of the list of people who are in-scope [for transfer]. On reading the documents, this information was meant to be made public in June.

I am feeling rather anxious that no-one is being forth-coming with any information at all, and people are resorting to rumour, gossip and private meetings. Can someone please answer the following.

• Who is deciding which members of staff are in or out of scope?
• What criteria are they using to judge whether a person is "in-scope" or not.
• When, exactly is the list being made public
• What date is Toxic handing over work to Winners
• Why are some people being asked to work beyond the "drop-dead" date.
• Are Winners coming to "here" to give a presentation and if so, when
  

I also feel angry that the future of peoples' livelihoods is being treated with such apparent indifference. I simply do not understand what the apparent shroud of secrecy is about. Staff deserve to know what is happening with their own jobs, specifically:

• What do I do if someone decides I am not in scope?
• If I am not in scope where am I going to work in Toxic?
• Am I able to get redundancy?

I want some answers by the end of Friday, if not sooner.

thanks,

Me