Lloyds is up to no good, again!
The introduction of mandatory testing for the Engineering, Architecture and Technical Job Families, is just a precursor to more job cuts, job changes and downgradings when Platform 3.0 is rolled out next year.
In response to a question about what the mandatory testing data is going to be used for, Lloyds says:
“The data will also help us ensure we have the right complement of skills and capabilities across our team; helping us to be more effective for our customers and ensure we can stay in line with our competitors.”.
and
“Whenever there are changes in any part of the business, such as structure changes or selection exercises, or where decisions are made about roles, managers need to take into account multiple inputs to ensure the fairest possible approach. The knowledge and information a manager has to support their decision will include, for example, discussions and development plans that from part of the post-skills-capture actions.”.
So, the test results and peer rankings are going to be used to transfer more jobs to India with Lloyds arguing that it’s not got the right skills and capabilities in the UK.
We also think that as part of Platform 3.0, Lloyds will use selection exercises to remap staff in engineering roles into different job families and lower graded roles. And those who move into these ‘new’ roles will be forced to give up their legacy compressed working arrangements. Those staff who are deemed to be non-engineers, for example, could be moved to a ‘change’ role with a lower pay group. Using the threat of the new, inferior redundancy terms, agreed with Accord and Unite, Lloyds will argue that’s a ‘reasonable alternative role’.
We will resist any attempt to shoehorn our members into lower paid jobs, just so Lloyds can offshore more jobs to India.
We’d like to hear what members think of the mandatory testing and what Lloyds is planning to do next year. You can contact us at 24hours@btuonline.co.uk. In the meantime, members with any questions on this Newsletter should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868 (choose Option 1).
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO THEIR COLLEAGUES SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN LLOYDS AND HALIFAX