ITV security could go private
Security staff at ITV sites across the UK are waiting to hear if their jobs are being handed to a new employer.
The company is set to confirm in the New Year whether the security operation at the majority of its sites is to be contracted-out to a single security provider.
ITV's relentless drive to cut costs through cuts in staff is continuing with the company's current review of its security operations.
Staff hope that their loyalty will be repaid with a decision from the company to keep their services in-house...
BECTU has criticised the move in the belief that site security could be compromised by the introduction of a new company lacking the local knowledge and range of skills which ITV currently relies on.
Equally important to BECTU members is the certain worsening of terms and conditions which will follow any outsourcing of work.
"In a high-profile business, our security officers provide security for staff, visitors and members of the public as well as securing the company's property; the activity on many ITV sites changes daily; the job requires settled teams who understand the environment they are working in" explained Sharon Elliott, BECTU official.
"The union is also looking to the company to recognise that more than half of the workers affected by this review are directly employed by ITV plc; not only do they understand the business but they have committed themselves to the company in difficult and unsettling years. Staff hope that their loyalty will be repaid with a decision from the company to keep their services in-house" Sharon Elliott continued.
Security company, Reliance, is the final contender for the ITV plc contract. It is well known that the costs of contracting out are borne in large part by the staff who transfer to the new employer. Currently there is no legislation to protect pension rights on transfer, an issue which grows daily in importance; less scrupulous employers can create the kind of working environment which drives established staff out of work without compensation.
More than 100 workers from Border to Westcountry are affected by the review which was announced in the summer. Sixty three-staff posts are affected with the largest number of in-house staff being employed at ITV Anglia, Wales, West, London, Yorkshire and Manchester.