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IBM deal averts strike action in Bradford

Kable

Published: 04 Jul 2005 16:55 BST

Bradford Council has signed a contract with IBM to deliver its IT transformation programme after assuring worried staff that their jobs are not at risk.

Unions had threatened industrial action over the Bradford-i programme which involves cutting staff numbers by 40 over four years.

But the council has now promised staff that there will be no compulsory redundancies and they will only transfer to the supplier on a voluntary basis.

After reaching an agreement with union representatives at Unison, the council completed its £158m deal with IBM. The supplier will work with Serco to run the day-to-day IT operations for the council.

Chris Jenkinson, regional officer for Unison, told Government Computing News on 4 July, 2005, that the union is now satisfied with the employment terms offered under the Bradford-i programme.

"We have secured very strong staff protection as part of this deal," he said. "No staff will have to transfer over to the supplier and any staff reductions will be voluntary. It means that if staff positions are cut, people will have to be retrained and reskilled in order to be employed either in different IT functions or in other areas of the council administration."

Unison has ensured that a secondment system is in place so that staff can work for the supplier while retaining their status as council employees. New employees at the council will only be given the option to work for the supplier after three months in the job.

As part of the agreement with IBM, Serco will manage key council IT services including helpdesk support, network management, desktop services and voice systems.

Council leader Margaret Eaton, said: "Bradford-i will help the council become more customer focused and make for better delivery of our corporate priorities."

"We are sure that we can build on the support we give our communities and achieve higher customer satisfaction with our services to the district's residents."