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Union anger at job cuts

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

Union anger at job cuts

Mar 30 2004
By Greg Truscott

South London Press

THE union representing 52 gardeners whose jobs are under threat is to take legal action against a council contractor.

Cleanaway - which was awarded the ground maintenance contract for Lambeth's 64 parks and green spaces - intends to make 52 of the 105 staff employed at the borough's beauty spots redundant.

Gardeners and ground maintenance workers say parks like Clapham Common, Brockwell and Kennington Park will fall into disrepair if jobs are axed.

But Cleanaway claims it will be able to provide the same level of service with just half the workforce.

Representatives from the GMB union, which is acting on behalf of the gardeners, claim there has been inadequate formal consultation with the union regarding the job cuts, which Cleanaway intends to push through by April 1.

Legislation states employers must tell the Secretary of State for Employment and the union how many redundancies are to be made in a formal document called an HR1.

This document was sent to the Secretary of State in February but was not received by the union until one month later, preventing formal redundancy consultation from beginning.

GMB union representative Richard Ascough said: "The GMB will vigorously defend its members' interests at tribunal to ensure that our members are compensated for the lamentable lack of consultation."

A spokeswoman for Cleanaway said: "The HR1 form has been lodged with the Secretary of State and Cleanaway has met with the union, which has been aware of this situation since August 2003.

"Cleanaway is happy that it is meeting all the requirements of the process."

(posted 7302 days ago)

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