The law of the building site; Carillion and public libraries.

If a recent comment posted on my site is to be believed, and I have no reason to doubt it, then it looks as if Carillion have tried to introduce the law of the building site into public libraries;

"Well in Harrow ALL the managers and qualified librarians and back room (stock services) staff were given their marching orders. Upwards of 20 staff sacked with 1 week notice. The union is involved now and the staff have not left yet. Carillion haven't finished yet, they are set to look at other groups of staff, eg schools + young peoples services next. Meanwhile new recruits are going on a zero hours contract."

I've heard stories from friends who work on building sites that they and other workers have been told to pack their tools with a days, a weeks or with no notice. This, and blacklisting, seems to be common practise in the construction industry. 

This shocking news about Harrow fits in with the other bits and pieces I've heard from Ealing and Croydon where staff are being threatened with redundancies and 'restructuring', many more will flee with ER/VR packages if they can get them? As yet i haven't heard anything from Hounslow, but that's not surprising as it's always been very hard to get inside information from that service.

The comment about zero-hours contracts doesn't surprise me, GLL also use these in Greenwich and Wandsworth Libraries, as far as we know? What is shocking is that they are no longer just being used to keep a pool of temps such as students and the retired, who may be suited by these arrangements, to cover busy periods but it's being claimed that they are now being used for all new recruits? This is a worrying escalation.

If this cull does take place then many skilled and professional staff will be lost and the staff who are left behind may find themselves having to deal with short staffing, increased workloads and low morale which will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on the quality of the service.