Weakening TUPE legislation will drive down workers' terms and conditions, warns TUC - TUC Website - 05/09/13

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-22562-f0.cfm

"The TUC has today (Thursday) warned that government plans to weaken the Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations will drive down terms and conditions for vulnerable workers and make privatisation cheaper and quicker.
TUPE protects employees' terms and conditions of work when a business is transferred from one owner to another. Staff automatically become employees of the new employer on the same terms and conditions as they were on before, and their continuity of service is also protected.
However, under the government's plans TUPE will not always apply when services are outsourced."

LSSI; the library workers' friend?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/business/27libraries.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&emc=eta1
"Library employees are often the most resistant to his company, said Mr. Pezzanite, a co-founder of L.S.S.I. — and, he suggested, for reasons that only reinforce the need for a new approach.
“Pensions crushed General Motors, and it is crushing the governments in California,” he said. While the company says it rehires many of the municipal librarians, they must be content with a 401(k) retirement fund and no pension."
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080213/NEWS/802130312/-1/rss14
"A private firm that operates Jackson County's 15 libraries is being forced to recognize that a majority of its employees are members of a union to resolve a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board."
http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=7169#comment_7536
"LSSI paid most of our former workers close to their former wages, but hit them hard on benefits. They hired most of our former full time employees at 20 hours a week, and set the qualifying bar for health insurance at 30 hrs. week."
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/places/Check-Out-the-New-Library-Sign-For-Profit-104085653.html
"To achieve profitability, Library Systems & Services typically slashes costs drastically, in part by replacing unionized workers. L.S.S.I. chief executive Frank Pezzanite told the New York Times that a lot of local libraries are, in his words, atrocious. "Their policies are all about job security," he said. "That's why the profession is nervous about us. You can [work at] a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We're not running our company that way. You come to us, you're going to have to work."
http://thoughtsofawannabelibrarian.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/privatisation-and-the-failure-narrativ/
"The “slacks and trainers mentality” among librarians will be abolished, Mr Lynch says. In its place will be “a rigorous service culture”.
"There is a link there between de-unionisation, cutting costs and “the slacks and trainers mentality”.  The implication being that staff are the cause of the inefficiencies and if only the unions were removed from the equation, the future of the library service would be assured."
www.albanyca.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=13001
"4. Contract with LSSI

LSSI employees are usually not unionized, but

are paid a prevailing wage."