THH WORKERS DEMONSTRATE

On Tuesday a group of 30  disgruntled Tower Hamlets Homes employees demonstrated outside Toby Club where the Board Meeting was taking place. At the demonstration were present representatives from Unison, GMB and Unite. The group expressed disappointments at the large number of proposed job cuts ranging from a reduction of 50-80 posts. They felt that such a large number out of around 500 employees was unacceptable.

The group also felt their TUPE rights are being ignored; they said the workforce has been told that they have to apply within 7 days for voluntary redundancy or they will lose any right to a severance payment. The demonstrators felt they were being forced into applying for redundancy when it might eventually transpire their job was safe after all.

It was popular amongst those present that the ALMO should be taken backin house as this would mean only 20-30 jobs  would be lost. They felt THH would save a lot of money by losing its top tiers of management as well as sharing much of the services with the Council would cut down on duplication and cost. There are concerns that the only Asian member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) could be made redundant as part of the 80 job cuts.

Having previously successfully turned around another failing ALMO Sayeed Kadir was hired by THH to benefit from his expertise in the housing sector. Kadir is a dynamic individual who approaches problem solving in a creative and holistic manner. If true, the loss to THH and residents will be great indeed. This has caused concern amongst THH employees and residents who feel sensitive about the lack of ethnic minority staff particularly Bangladeshis amongst the higher and middle tiers of management.

For instance THH has a very big proportion of Bangladeshi residents yet in the first four tiers of management this is not reflected at all where there are no Bangladeshi staff. The Board Members and Managers discussions with the group of demonstrators were received well. However the anger amongst sections the group was palpable as they felt if the expensive tier of management and the cost of servicing a Board were removed it would mean that many employees position would be safe.

As with job cuts in all sectors it is likely all the painless possibilities will be taken advantage of first such as taking advantage of natural movement of staff such as retirements, those moving into alternative employment and deletion of empty posts.

Then the second tier will be a more involved discussion with the employees where they will possibly be asked to look into different options such as becoming part time, taking a sabbatical or a voluntary redundancy, the last and most difficult will be the enforced redundancies. Redundancies are more expensive for employees who have been working longer. This would mean older employees are more likely to take up the offer of voluntary redundancies however it may not be financially feasible for THH to offer it tothem.

The ALMO was set up by the Council as a vehicle to tap into the Decent Homes Funds, however it is no longer required to have an ALMO to access the funds. THH has recently been inspected by the Audit Commission and one of THH’s targets was to achieve two stars which would enable them to access £220 Million Decent Homes funding.

The Audit Commission initially had planned to announce the results of the inspection late last December, however it still has not been publicly announced and the Agency says there will be a press release in six weeks time regarding the inspection of THH. Close sources claim THH has not achieved the two stars and is in the process of appealing this decision.

If as likely THH has failed the inspection it would mean THH has been a costly venture and a spectacular failure. This would make the case for taking the ALMO in house even stronger. There is a feeling amongst politicians, THH employees and in the community that if the job cuts happen and later the ALMO is taken back in, it will cause a lot of resentment and an unnecessary cull of talented staff as well as a haemorrhaging of very limited resources due to the redundancy costs. It may be in the best interests of the politicians to make the most prudent and swift decisions before the job cuts are executed. The job cuts will need to be completed by the end of the financial year on 31st of March. Ultimately the decision of whether or not to take the ALMO back in house would be up to the Mayor however extensive consultation with, residents, elected members, THH staff and the Board is likely before a decision is taken. Currently there is strong support for THH to be absorbed back into the Council because other similar such moves have proved very successful and popular. The lives