100 days in office: where is the promised end to outsourcing?
Soon reaching its 100th day in office, the government must end outsourcing in the civil service to halt the flow of profit out of the public sector into private hands.
In its election manifesto, Labour made a commitment to insource facilities management services such as cleaning, catering and security within government departments and agencies, which would benefit thousands of PCS members.
Yesterday (10), the government honoured its commitment to tabling a bill within 100 days of government to improve workers’ rights and reverse the Tories’ anti-union legislation. The Employment Rights Bill proposes increased protections for 'transferring workers in outsourcing contracts'.
Although we support a code of conduct which inserts minimum standards provisions on pay and terms and conditions for any outsourcing contracts, the government now needs to honour its commitment on insourcing.
Heeding the call of our outsourced members and outsourced workers across the UK, it must bring outsourced jobs back into the public sector, away from profiteering multi-national companies.
Time and again, we have seen how outsourcing has created a two-tier workforce, a race to the bottom on pay and conditions that disproportionately impacts women and black workers.
To show your support, use our e-action to email your MP to support the Early Day Motion calling for an end to outsourcing.
Ongoing disputes show failures of outsourcing
Our outsourced workers have been fighting tooth-and-nail to push the new government to implement this commitment. But they have also been involved in fights for improvements to their current contracts, whose low pay and poor terms and conditions demonstrate the failures of outsourcing.
In October and November, PCS members employed by G4S as security guards in jobcentres will take further strike action in their long-running dispute over pay. They received an insulting pay offer of just 32p per hour above the national living wage – an offer that members voted by 84% to reject.
In Scotland, caterers and cleaners working for OCS at FCDO East Kilbride have been forced to take strike action in a dispute over pay, terms, and conditions. Today, they announced an escalation of this industrial action.
PCS is also running a strike ballot until 14 October for cleaners, post room staff, porters, catering and reception staff employed by multinational ISS who work in several government departments.
Like their colleagues working for G4S and OCS, these ISS members are demanding fair increases in pay and improvements to terms and conditions to end the two-tier workforce, with staff directly employed by the civil service in the buildings where they work on superior pay and terms and conditions.