Ealing Borough Parking Attendant Dispute Over

Union claims Serco have agreed to reform employment practices

'Parking free for all' may not be happening in Ealing borough
Parking restrictions being enforced again in Ealing borough

Related Links

Serco Deny Employing Agency Staff To Bust Strike

Parking Attendant Strike On Despite ‘Progress’ at Acas

Union Says Summer Parking 'Free For All' Ahead in Ealing

Council Accused of Helping 'Hound' Union Rep Out of Job

Ealing Council Ranks Second in UK for Parking Fines

Ealing Council Makes £11million on Parking And Traffic Fines

Ealing Borough Ranked As Most Difficult Place To Park In The UK

ActonW3.com, ChiswickW4.com and EalingToday.co.uk

Participate
Comment on this story on the forum

The long running dispute between outsourcing company Serco and civil enforcement officers working on behalf of Ealing Council appears to have been resolved.

Unite the Union says Serco has issued an apology over ‘union busting tactics’ and agreed to reform employment practices.

Nearly 50 staff who are employed by Serco on the Ealing council parking enforcement contract, will now return to work after taking strike action since early May.

The dispute was over claims that the company had deliberate targeted union activists for severance and the policy on absence.

Serco has signed an agreement with Unite implementing new anti-bullying and harassment measures, adding additional protections against dismissal within the absence policy and improving the terms governing compassionate leave.

Industrial action was suspended last month after progress was made at talks at the conciliation service Acas and a two day strike due to start on Monday (2 August) was cancelled. Further action due to take place between 4-15 August will now not take place.

Unite regional officer Clare Keogh said, “Our members stood together on the picket line for three months to protect their trade union and collective bargaining rights.

“They understand that employers would much prefer workers to be atomised and unable to organise as a group to defend themselves and seek improvements to pay and terms and conditions.

“Unite’s position remains that public contracts, such as parking enforcement in Ealing, should be taken out of the hands of outsourcers and brought back inhouse by local authorities.

“The union, however, looks forward to improved industrial relations with Serco in Ealing now that this dispute has ended.”

Ealing Council leader Peter Mason posted on Twitter, “Very happy to see SERCO has apologised and the dispute with @unitetheunion over Ealing’s parking enforcement is now concluded.

“We’re committed to extending and protecting trade union rights in the workplace of our workers and for Ealing residents…

“@deirdrecostigan and I met with civil enforcement officers on the contract recently to understand their experiences working both directly for the council & for SERCO. As a new administration, we’ve committed to exploring insourcing public services as our first choice…

“We’re going to be using the full force of the council’s spending power in our borough, as well as a major player in our local economy to: deliver good jobs, drive up pay and the LLW [London Living Wage], drive out zero hours contracts. And much more.”

Serco have asked for a comment.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

August 5, 2021

 

Bookmark and Share