The majority of March has been spent dealing with the impending re-structure within PGDS, which has been surrounded by rumour and cancelled announcements and consultations.

At the time of writing we still have not had any consultations on the re-structure. All we do know is that there will be between 20 – 89 job losses with rumours circulating that the number will be between 40 – 65.

We have spoken to PGDS about the rumoured numbers but have been told that is all they are, rumours, and that they will consult with us at the appropriate time.

We have held members meetings in Reading, London and Craigforth and members are telling us job losses on this scale are simply unsustainable and that if they go ahead, PGDS will not be able to meet its service delivery targets.

It is clear that our members would not be happy with a proposal that looks anything like the rumoured proposal.

It is also worth noting here that the consultation and proposed announcement was cancelled, for the second time, at the very last minute as a result of “circumstances outside of PGDS’s control”. PGDS have not been able to provide any more information on those circumstances, but the delay and the mystery surrounding it has only served to decrease the already low morale and increase the uncertainty of job losses.

Elsewhere, we continue to be involved in consultations about Day 3 in the Finance Transformation programme. Day 3 looks at the structure and roles in Grades 1 – 3.

During these consultations, Unite aims to:-

a) minimise the number of redundancies , especially compulsory redundancies
b) preserve the terms and conditions of employees as a result of the restructure
c) ensure a fair and transparent process is implemented, which is quick and is implemented with minimal disruption to employees and the business.

Consultations are ongoing and we are anticipating that the announcement to staff will take place in the last week of April.

We have been preparing for our first quarterly consultation meeting with Reward which takes place in April. Items on the agenda include Objectives, Pay & Bonus pots in light of Prudential’s massive profits as well as items that we included in the pay claim where we are looking for enhancements to existing policies. These include glasses/eye test allowances, introduction of a carers policy and a review of the on-call allowances/payments.

We have also been is discussion with management in Annuities in relation to yet another change to the way they calculate productivity. We have expressed our concern that the new method is unfair and in our view will have no positive impact on the customer. However, the business have implemented the changes but have agreed to review them with us once they have been up and running for a couple of months. We will strongly resist any moves to place people on Performance Plans as a result of these changes.

Finally, we have been looking at further learning opportunities for employees and we are currently exploring the possibility of running taster sessions in British Sign Language to members. Watch this space for more details.