Carillion and LS&S; the dangers of library privatisation.

Carillion

It's amazing how many people didn't know that Carillion ran 4 library services in London.
In 2012 Harrow, Ealing, Hounslow and Croydon outsourced their library services to John Laing Integrated Services who then sold the contract on to Carillion in 2013. In 2017 Hounslow terminated its contract with Carillion and in the last few days Croydon followed suit after news that the firm had been liquidated, but even before the final crash came about news was coming out of the borough that Carillion were doing a bad job and couldn't even pay their newspapers bills!
Harrow and Ealing have yet to play their hands both claiming that it would be too costly to take the services back in-house and look likely to re-outsource with GLL being mentioned in some quarters.
I've been keeping tabs on Carillion's library venture since 2013 and have consistently over this time heard from good sources that they were making a real hash of things. Right from the start Unison, the main union representing library workers, experienced barriers in negotiating recognition agreements which really isn't that surprising considering Carillion's involvement in a major blacklisting scandal. If you wanted tangible proof of their mismanagement you only had to visit Croydon Central Library, it was a mess with half-empty and untidy shelves, one of the worst children's libraries you've ever seen and a visible lack of staff or even self-service kiosks that worked, it was a disgrace.
Anyway Carillion are no more and i live in hope that this has acted as a wake up call to councils, especially Labour ones, who are considering privatising such a crucial statutory service.

LS&S (formerly LSSI)

The US private library firm LS&S have recently lost a contract in Santa Clarita, California. Staffing shortages, unfilled vacancies, low morale and a drastic drop in usage have been cited as the reasons for termination of the contract. Now this didn't come as a surprise to my comrade Lori Rivas and other campaigners/users in Santa Clarita who not only put up an epic battle against privatisation in the first place but have also been raising issues and concerns since the contract was signed. Solidarity and congratulations to Lori et al.
Last week, after a law suit and community protests, LS&S won the contract to run libraries in nearby Escondido. Campaigners have vowed to keep fighting and let's hope they do.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/17/london-libraries-assess-impact-of-carillion-collapse
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-library-outsourcing-20180110-story.html
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-library-opposition-20180116-story.html

Croydon, 'Jack and Jills' and stamping books or selling stamps with books?

I've been busy, what with visit a to Croydon Central Library, meeting William Sieghart, helping to draft the Speak up for Libraries Manifesto, writing my own submission to the Sieghart Inquiry and helping to draft one for Voices for the Library I haven't had much time to blog.

So here's some stories that have caught my eye;

First the good news - It looks as if Labour have wrestled back control of Croydon Council from the Conservatives which could mean, if they keep their promise, that the libraries contract could be reviewed and the service brought back in-house? This couldn't happen soon enough in my opinion, Croydon Libraries are a mess as i saw for myself when i recently visited the Central Library with Elizabeth Ash of the Save Croydon Libraries Campaign, i will be blogging in detail about my visit soon.


I spotted an interesting article on the Guardian site a few days ago which highlighted some of the potential risks of shared services and collocation and that is asking public service staff to multi-task and become "Jack and Jills of all trades". Although the article specifically used library staff as an example the concerns raised about 'deprofessionalisation' and 'skills training' are cross-sectoral.
"It is good that public service workers are being granted greater flexibility. But there are two main limitations to this move to greater genericism. The first is that multi-tasking in an era of cost cutting can look a lot like deprofessionalisation."
"A second limitation is that skills training continues to be sectoral, failing to catch up with the move to genericism."
With a concerted push towards 'hubs' library staff will be under greater pressure to adopt the 'one-stop-shop' approach and this could if not managed properly and without sufficient negotiation and joined-up thinking lead to the erosion of professional skills and a dilution of the core library offer.

Leading on from this I also spotted a story about Stradbroke Library in Suffolk hosting a post office, what worried me about this was the claim that the library service would be running the post office service. Not only does this raise the same concerns outlined in the 'Jack and Jills' Guardian article but if it's true does it mean that library workers will be doing work that should be done by post office workers? (if I'm wrong on this then please let me know) Shouldn't we in these times of an outright attack on public services and jobs be supporting fellow workers and union members, what ever happened to solidarity?

 

Catching up on Carillion!

I haven't had much time lately to update my blog, I've been drafting the Speak up for Libraries local and general elections manifesto/pledge, writing stuff for Voices for the Library, finishing my submission to the Arts Council Inquiry and trying to publicise and celebrate National Libraries Day (also working and family life) phew!

Anyway it seems that Carillion are cutting up to eight 'professional' library posts in Croydon, four at the Central Library and another four across the branches. All this just weeks after buying the contract from JLIS, who had already warned of 're-structuring' (the management term for hollowing out). From what I've heard the service is already at breaking point with even the LMS breaking down and staff having to manually check books and other stock items in and out, so will these cuts bring it to its knees?
As I've said before i can only offer my condolences to the long suffering users and staff, public libraries are crucial statutory public services and shouldn't be bought and sold, they are far too important for that.

Harrow Libraries.

'Harrow braced for cuts in library staff under new manager;

Carillion, which has taken over the running of Harrow's 11 libraries, is to review staffing with job losses likely' (27/12/13)

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/harrow-braced-cuts-library-staff-6448402

'Positive future' no more as library management company in consultation with staff over redundancies;

Operator of library services in Harrow confirm they are consulting on redundancies.' (19/12/13)

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/incoming/positive-future-no-more-library-6432962
 

Update on Carillion.

In response to my recent post entitled 'The law of the building site; Carillion and public libraries' I've received the following information;

Approx 100 individuals have been given "at risk of redundancy" notices across Croydon, Ealing, Harrow and Hounslow Libraries and Culture. Carillion employ about 500 people in Libraries in the four Boroughs, so this is about 20% of all staff.  The distribution of "at risk" individuals/roles is not evenly distributed across the Boroughs, some have less some have more.

These restructure proposals were written in early 2013 before the Carillion buy out of JLIS. The implementation date for the new structure, which would involve a minimum of 30 job losses across the four Boroughs, has been set for 1st of February 2014.

I've been told that there are both zero hours and agency staff in all the Boroughs. These people could theoretically be sacked with a week's notice, so may be that's where this comment came from.

In respect of Children's and Youth Services, and library services in general, I've been told that Carillion appear to have no basic interest in these and really only bought JLIS out to gain access to their 'Facilities Management' contracts.

I've also been told that negotiations are ongoing over restructuring and redundancies and that the zero-hours issue has also been raised.

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.

Carillion and Croydon.

Recently myself and Elizabeth Ash from the Save Croydon Libraries Campaign were asked by 'EastLondonLines', an independent news website run by the media department of Goldsmiths, University of London, to comment on the buyout of JLIS by Carillion and their subsequent takeover of the Croydon Libraries contract. You can read our comments in the articles below;

 http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2013/11/concern-over-blacklisters-carillon-buying-contract-to-run-croydons-13-libraries/
 http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2013/11/croydon-libraries-staff-members-jobs-at-risk-following-surprise-takeover-by-carillion/

We don't know if Carillion will run the library services in Croydon, Ealing, Harrow & Hounslow differently to JLIS, it's hard to know what their style will be, especially as they have no track record in this sector but we have heard that they've poached some/all of the libraries team from JLIS. Watch this space!

Carillion threaten Library staff with redundancies.

Only 4 weeks after taking over the contracts for Croydon, Hounslow, Harrow and Ealing Libraries from JLIS, Carillion have stated that they will be re-structuring the services and have warned staff that redundancies are planned.

"Staff have since been told there will be a ‘restructuring’ taking place and in a meeting this morning with Carillion bosses, staff were made aware that redundancies are possible.
Carillion have today confirmed a restructure would be taking place and jobs would be at risk."
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/10822155.Library_staff_handed_redundancy_warnings/?action=success

This is shocking but not surprising from a firm implicated, along with others, in the blacklisting scandal and accused of bullying staff at a Swindon hospital into accepting cuts to terms and conditions.

Cuts will be made, staff will be lost, the services will ultimately be hollowed out, staff motivation and morale shattered and users served up a sham 2nd class service all in the name of the market and neoliberalism.
And has there been any public consultation on the change of service delivery provider and the proposed changes to the service, well hell no! Transparency, democracy and accountability will be smothered behind the smokescreen of 'commercial sensitivity'.

Statutory public services such as libraries are too crucial and important to be fed to the wolves, it's a bloody disgrace!

A Public Service Award for ignoring the public and privatising (and cutting) public services!

The Guardian have just awarded their Public Service Awards for 2013 and the one that immediately caught my eye was the winner of the 'Financial Excellence Award', Brent, Harrow and Ealing councils. They apparently won the award for;

"..combining their purchasing power and driving a hard bargain, three west London councils are turning loss-making leisure centres and libraries that were heading for closure into modern community hubs."

Now i can't really comment on the leisure centres part of this, won by all three councils, apart from saying that they should be managed in-house, but i can and will comment on the libraries part.

A short while ago Harrow and Ealing outsourced their libraries to John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS), who also ran Hounslow and Croydon Libraries, even though in Harrow 74% of those consulted said that they wanted the service to remain in-house and in Ealing, Unison and library users protested against the handover.
Then approx 4 weeks ago JLIS where bought-out by Carillion, the support services and construction firm who along with others where instigated in the blacklisting scandal, they have also been accused of bullying staff into accepting lower terms and conditions at a hospital in Swindon. This buyout was apparently done without consultation and apparently came as a surprise to the staff and service users effected.

I will also mention Brent, although they haven't outsourced their libraries they did close 6 of them despite huge public protest and according to recent CIPFA data the performance of the service has deteriorated considerably since then.

Whether you class outsourcing/privatising and cutting services as 'Financial Excellence' and thus worthy of an award really depends on what side of the political fence you sit on, something i wish the Guardian would make it's mind up about before making unsubstantiated statements such as;
"Contracting out the management of leisure centres and libraries to not-for-profit trusts through innovative, multi-borough contracts will create more modern and inclusive services, and save an estimated £30m over 10 years."

JLIS bought out by Carillion

A few weeks ago a couple of big birdies told me that JLIS, the company that manages Hounslow, Ealing, Harrow and Croydon Libraries, where soon to be bought out. And lo and behold;

"The company John Laing, which includes Croydon LBC and Tunbridge Wells BC among its contracted clients, announced it had sold its support services and facilities management business to Carillion plc because it no longer fitted with core business.
All staff in the division, called John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS), have transferred directly over.
The sale was unconditional and took place on 18 October 2013."

http://www.lgcplus.com/laing-sells-out-to-carillion/5064520.article?blocktitle=Latest-Local-Government-News&contentID=2249

What this will mean for users and staff who knows? Although it must be a little unsettling to say the least as staff and users in Ealing, Harrow & Croydon have only just got to know JLIS in the last few weeks (Hounslow has been run by them for over 5 years) and are now going to have to start again. A recent article also raises concerns about the lack of communication and consultation involved in the takeover;

"It is understood members of staff at the libraries were not informed of the sale and only realised a change had taken place after they noticed their emails had changed last weekend.
There is also confusion as to how the handover with Carillion will take place, with employees being told that previous arrangements with JLIS such as child credits are now suspended until further notice."
 

The other thing that might worry staff is the Carillion's reputation for being anti-union and for cutting jobs and terms and conditions, see;
http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/gmb-carillion-swindon-protest-over-cuts  

I'm sure we will find out soon enough!

For an excellent analysis see;

http://insidecroydon.com/2013/10/25/library-operators-carillions-shady-record-on-blacklistings/
http://insidecroydon.com/2013/10/22/laing-exit-library-business-after-taking-over-in-croydon/