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This is the first experience I have of being at risk for redundancy.
The union (of which I'm a member) is undertaking the "meaningful" consultation.
However, they're saying that these are confidential and that no further information can be given until the process is complete. Nor will they give any progress reports or provide information on proposed measures to mitigate the job losses.
I also haven't been formally told that I'm "at risk" for redundancy as laid out by the Government guidelines, even though I know I'm likely to go. I would have expected to receive a letter, not discover it on Sky News.
Just wondering if this is normal? It's a FTSE 100 company.
To be honest I cant see them not following the guidlines/law on this or they would get hung. I went through this in 2015 and they did everything by the book and then made a total arse of telling folk they were safe or paid off.
They will need to formally tell you that you are at risk (or at least I thought they did, quick bit of Googling suggest as it's large scale and the consultation is with the union they might not have to). The union negotiations are pretty meaningless really, they have decided they need redundancies, will have decided who's going, set the criteria for selection so the right people are selected.
The union might have a slight input to some of these things, slightly increase the pay out but not much more. Consultation is part of the redundancy process, it rarely achieves anything and drags it all out, upside is a couple more months pay and time to look for something else, downside is it can severely affect peoples mental health if they haven't already accepted the inevitable and are clinging to any remaining hope, plus for those that stay it puts them through the wringer for longer.
It's all done for the right reasons but is pretty useless really.
Tbh in the current climate whether you get a notification or not any employer is looking at cutting costs. Also seems the perfect opportunity for companies to shed staff and blame it on the virus, any other time they may have got bad press these times they can pretty much get away with it.
Sad times but lots of pressure on ftse companies to outperform peers.
Sorry about the news btw.
Were going through the same thing . union currently trying to tie it up in court saying you cant have a meaningful consultation whilst thousands of staff are furloughed , at best they are delaying the inevitable and i would prefer them to be actually talking to the management and at least trying to reduce job losses .
Having said that my only real option is to trust that the union knows what they are doing and wait for the outcome , I have total trust in our local reps but just don't trust the union to turn it into a political football which doesn't really help us .
It's happened to me 3 times in my career, plus twice where I managed an internal move - it's still $hit regardless. I worked in HR in a FTSE 100 and there was constant reorganisation whilst I was there.
The union are probably doing some collective bargaining in terms of the 'deal', numbers etc and once that's confirmed they'll get down to working through those 'at risk'. Depends on how big the numbers are and how long it will take. As it's a FTSE / publically listed company, any announcements like major redundancies are share price sensitive and hence the 'secrecy' so don't take it personally.
Last time i was made redundat it was last in first out,
others have said its cheapest to get rid of,
or less productive lazy staff top of list,
job not needed, agency staffed,
face doesnt fit,
sickens absent record,
or many other irrational reasons
My experience with being made redundant.
The "consultation" is just a tick box exercise where they tell you they've done everything they can to find you another role etc.
Incompetent muppets neglected to tell me that my old role I'd taken a sideways step from was actually recruiting.
So yea, don't take the meetings/letters at face value.
Although I'm guessing you're a Pilot, so probably more of a systemic problem.
MY experience of redundancy from several angle is that although the correct procedure is easy to do that majority of companies muck it up. My advice is always to sit tight, wait for them to muck it up, threaten tribunal and walk away with a bundle of cash from a compromise agreement
In my own case I was entitled to £400. I ended up with £7000
They are doing this at our company right now - which does consulting and outsourcing. There's a form they have to fill in and send to inland revenue that gives numbers they are targetting to cut. Once filled in that is public
Otherwise look for 'pre-selection'. That's what's happening in my firm - We suspect there's a list already written and then 'others' added to the pool to make it look fair, people with advance knowledge protected a few people. We don't have a union but some smart employee reps.
They have already issued their view of the selection criteria for redundancy - it's hugely flawed too - e.g. for my level, I am measured on sales and being billed on client projects - but nothing is on sales in the selection criteria, just billing - probably deliberately.
For us, it will be the deal that is offered and goodwill they want to give - because if we end up working for clients, our company will be challenged to win work.
We're told not to say anything (they choose 72 people out of 5oo in the UK), yet everyone knows too.
...union currently trying to tie it up in court saying you cant have a meaningful consultation whilst thousands of staff are furloughed...
They're right though, it is against the rules to use the furlough period for the consultation or notice periods of a redundancy situation. My work just tried to do it to us and got quickly shot down. We get a consultation period of 90 days and a redundancy notice period of 90 days too as per our contracts so it would save them a good part of 6 months wages per employee. As they're looking at closing our depot of 49 employees that's a huge amount! We've left them the option of if they decide to close the whole depot then we will take PILON for the whole 6 months so they can at least save on running costs. If they are only getting rid of a certain number of us and either running the depot smaller or offering transfers to other depots then the normal rules will apply. It's a bit of a gamble in that it might push the costs high enough to save the depot but if we lose we still get 6 month's pay and a big redundancy payout well above statutory for everyone. I would walk away with a year's pay for example, others will be hitting the top cap of 2 year's wages they've been there so long.
Reluctant - I’m not sure that’s accurate. Government advice on furlough is that consultation can happen during it.
Because your company is looking at a collective consultation for redundancies, whilst it would be nice if your employer told you, you can legally be notified by your representative i.e. the Union. You have at least 45 days from when the Union started their consultation until any dismissal can take place.
Legally, the employer can make most of the communication through the employer representatives (in your case the Union) and so you need to chase the Union if you are not getting correspondence. But as they have said, your FTSE 100 company requires the consultation to remain confidential because of share-price considerations. So you won't find out anything until an agreement is reached or the 45 days is up. The only thing the employer must give directly to the staff are termination notification and redundancy notices. https://www.gov.uk/staff-redundant/redundancy-consultations
I feel for everyone in your industry but the new reality is there are lots of well-trained people for unexpectedly far fewer flights for the foreseeable, which gives your employer the opportunity to force the most needy people onto terrible, exploitative contracts and abandon their commitments to the longest serving crews. We already saw it with the WorldWide/Mixed Fleet cabin crews and you'll now see it with pilots as well as cabin crew, maintenance and ground staff. Good luck, whatever you choose to do going forward.