Turning Point has issued notices to staff to sign new contracts by mid-May or lose their jobs in a move Unite has called completely disingenuous as the charity agrees to take the dispute to conciliators.

Some 2,600 staff were yesterday given notice that, while Turning Point has agreed to go conciliation service Acas, they will have to agree to their new contracts by 17 May or face the sack.

Unite representatives and Turning Point leaders were in discussions last week, and the union has blasted the charity for issuing the notices to staff and submitting the new contracts to the union unilaterally, without the dispute resolution procedures being exhausted. The charity entered into formal dispute with the union last month.

Unite representative Jamie Major said that agreeing to go to Acas, while also issuing notices, “is completely disingenuous, as far as I’m concerned”. However, the union is yet to contacted Acas to arrange a time for arbitration.

A Turning Point spokeswoman said: "The issuing of contracts does not prejudge the outcome of any extended voluntary discussions with the union Unite through Acas. The economic environment we are working in means that Turning Point needs to proceed with the issuing of the contracts now and we hope that the majority of staff will understand that the changes are made out of genuine need to respond to the ever changing demands on public finances."

The charity said it was waiting for Unite to confirm it would proceed with Acas arbitration.

The dispute has been running since November, when Turning Point indicated that government spending cuts was forcing it to reduce costs. The charity says the changes are designed to prevent job losses, and will include increased pay to the lowest paid of workers. However staff stand to receive poorer overtime, redundancy and other terms which the union claims could be worth up to £10,000 a year to some employees.  

Major said staff feel their employer is using “bullyboy tactics”.   

A statement from Turning Point said that the charity was “disappointed” by the stalemate between it and the union, and said it had improved the new contracts after consultation.  

“We have tried our best to make the proposals better for our people, through listening to their views throughout the consultation period,” the statement reads.  “We’re introducing a phasing on the implementation of the proposals on enhancements, to stagger the impact on any one individual; we’re also delaying the changes to redundancy, to demonstrate that these proposals are about a commitment to protecting as many jobs as possible; we’re introducing a 20 per cent enhancement for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day and Easter Monday and we’ve made changes to our out-of-hours proposals.”

Staff using food banks

Although the changed terms have yet to come into effect, Major said that “numerous” staff have informed him they are already using food banks or are looking into food banks in their neighbourhood. While current contracts are still in place, the union says staff have been pushed by years of pay freezes.

Turning Point confirmed it is aware of one staff member enquiring about the use of food banks.

Turning Point income grew by 5 per cent in 2011/12 and it took on 182 more staff, but both the charity and union agree on one thing: that it is government welfare cuts which are to blame for the pressure on the charity’s finances. 

 

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