Dear Members
Today we again met with Thales HR and management regarding the redundancies announced in December. Back in December it was announced that up to 14 positions would be removed within JF07 in Field Services and Services. After the meeting today we have been informed that it has been identified that there were 6 vacant positions which will now not be filled and therefore there are now up to 8 positions that will be removed. We have not been given any more details on these 8 positions but have been promised that we will receive this at a meeting on Tuesday 13th January.
Last week we were also shown an over view presentation on improving efficiencies within DTS, again there was not much detail but they are looking at changing the organisation charts and also change some rosters for people that currently work 12 hour shifts to 8hr shifts.
The reality is that it appears that Thales wish to recruit more management level grades, at the expense of front line jobs. This is clearly controversial and seems at odd with a drive for making the company more efficient. However, it is very important to stress that we are still very much at the initial stage of these talks, therefore we have stated that we want full details of the proposals before we can even start to fully engage with the employer.
It is also important to recognise that roster changes are very controversial and that our members will not accept compulsory redundancy. We therefore have stressed both this matters to senior Thales management