Pre-Christmas betrayal of O2 store staff
5th November 2012
CWU negotiators have taken the unusual step of issuing an
open letter condemning O2's shock decision to embark on a major
cost-cutting plan which will see 82 of its 450 stores put out to
franchise.
The bombshell, which was announced to horrified retail division
employees on October 30, will result in 412 retail assistants in
CWU-represented grades being 'sold' into an uncertain
future with only limited protections under TUPE legislation.
News of the initiative, weirdly branded 'Project Thelma' by
O2 bosses, prompted the union to immediately point out the
perversity of the company plunging its front-line sales force into
panic about their own futures at the retail business' busiest
time of year.
Despite urgent CWU appeals to O2 to reconsider the wisdom of a
strategy which is certain to demotivate the very staff on which the
company is relying to rebuild its dented market share,
advertisements for would-be franchisees were issued just hours
later.
Assistant secretary Sally Bridge
said: "The CWU is bitterly disappointed at the entire
direction the company is taking on this issue. That's not
simply because we think franchising on this scale carries huge
risks - for the company as well as staff - but because we've
been left under no illusion whatsoever that O2 is going to drive
this through whatever we say."
With a timetable already established for the franchising process -
and probable multiple TUPE transfers of staff to new employers - to
be completed by the end of March, the CWU is now focusing on the
complex task of ensuring that legal protections for transferring
staff are properly adhered to.
"We'll work hard to ensure that both O2 and its new
franchisees meet all their obligations under TUPE legislation - but
even though transferring staff members have their immediate
employment protected under law, there are still lots of
unknowns," Sally explains.
"Unanswered questions include the longer-term job security of
those being transferred out of O2 - and issues such as what happens
with regards to pensions, pay review dates and ongoing terms and
conditions, to name just a few.
"However you look at it, this is a very destabilising
development for sales staff as they enter into their busiest time
of year - a time when they will be expected to pull out all the
stops for O2 when the company is simultaneously in the process of
dispensing with them."
CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr
concludes: "This franchising move will destabilise the whole
retail network of 450 shops, not just the 82 affected by this
particular announcement.
"Staff will be wondering whether they have a job and what
their future holds as they enter the busy pre-Christmas shopping
period."
Read the CWU's open letter to Fiona Keenan, O2 Employee Relations Business Partner
For more information read the union's initial reaction to the
news on 30th October 2012: O2
franchise plans a shock to staff.
