Public and Commercial Services Union

In response to members’ fears about what the formation of UKBF means for their job content and terms and conditions of service, PCS sought a number of assurances and guarantees relating to those and other issues (privatisation, job security and TU representation).

The assurance sought around job content was that no one should be compelled to undertake work outside their current specialism, and the assurance sought around terms and conditions was one of no detriment.

On some occasions, it looked as if progress towards those assurances could be made, but the most recent initiative has suffered the same fate as earlier ones and has, as yet, come to nothing.

Job content: the current position

Rather than offer members any assurance that their wishes will be taken into account, management guidance has been published which sets no limits on what managers can “require” of immigration staff and detection staff.

For immigration staff, that means that port managers have been told that they can consider requiring staff to undertake all core customs functions, including arresting, seizing and detaining, with the only constraints being appropriate training and perceived business need.

PCS has challenged the “similar job” assumptions on which this is based, but managers have decided to plough ahead regardless and without promised discussion with PCS.

Shift-working

The management guidance draws attention to the possibility of “change to existing shift patterns and arrangements to meet business requirements, including introducing mid-shift meal breaks, single night shifts and fixed shifts as part of a team structure”.

The invitation to managers to move away from existing practices and the flexibilities they give staff is clear.

Early indications are that managers are acting on this to remove terminal meal breaks, introduce single night shifts and limit duty requests and swaps.

PST training

Nothing definitive is being said about liability to undertake PST to level 3, but indications from a number of sources suggest that managers are about to take the line that if they can compel staff to undertake extended roles for which PST level 3 training is required, and that they can therefore compel those staff to undertake such training.

PCS believes that such compulsion is a breach of terms and conditions of tervice in which there is no fitness requirement.

Management, however, seem intent on bringing immigration staff into line with customs staff, with potentially significant consequences for those who can’t have or don’t want to have physical engagement as part of their job.

Terms and conditions: the current position

Terms and conditions negotiations are currently suspended until May, as a result of new pay guidance from the Treasury. We are seeking to establish the precise reasons why.

It remains management’s intention to introduce an annualised hours system governing attendance.

This cannot be done without employee consent, but pressure can be brought to bear to make the choice less than free. We do not know the details of exactly what is proposed, but any system of team based annualised hours working, with “fixed” rosters, could threaten:

• Flexibility around duty requests and swaps
• Ability to vary time off for personal needs
• Ability not to work weekends and bank holidays, if desired
• Ability to get the best fit between partners’ different working regimes
• Compulsory overtime
• Shift curtailment, with hours to be made up later
• Longer hours at peak periods (eg Summer)

This list is not exhaustive, but illustrates how any degree of control can be taken away from staff and passed to managers.

Where do we go from here?

PCS believes that the publication of the management guidance is crunch time, and if members don’t act now, in a short space of time, mangers will seek to force through changes to job content that will include all aspects of customs work, whether members like it or not.

If you do not want to do the full range of customs duties, including less savoury elements of the job such as strip searches and examining excrement for drugs, then now is the time to take a stand.

What we’re doing

We have planned an extensive programme of members’ meetings. Meetings already held at Heathrow and Gatwick have shown an almost unanimous willingness to act to defend current job boundaries and flexibilities.

More meetings are planned at locations around the country, so please look out for those at or near your workplace to include Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds Bradford Airport, Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Newcastle and Luton.

If you cannot get to a meeting at one of those locations, but would like to attend a meeting, please let your local rep know and we will do whatever we can to meet needs. We need to hear your views.

Now is the time

We have reached a tipping point, where managers now say that the sky’s the limit it in terms of what we will ask you to do.

If we wait for the outcome of discussions on terms and conditions of service, the bird will have flown on job content and working lives will have changed beyond recognition.

The view of your negotiating team is that the only way we can now get the assurances and guarantees that we have asked for is with the support of members. Please attend a meeting and let us know what you think.