Amey, the new waste contractor, is in their first week of a 25 year contract with the Isle of Wight council.
Earlier this week, OnTheWight heard from a trusted source that not all jobs might be as safe as was expected.
When OnTheWight met with directors from the company last month we were left with the impression all staff would be transferred over from Island Waste to Amey through TUPE (what’s this?)
Closure of recycling centre
A source told OnTheWight this we that around 12 staff, who worked at the recycling centre in Forest Road (which closed on 1st November), had been offered either alternative positions within Amey elsewhere around the country (some as far away as Leeds), or redundancy.
OnTheWight got in touch with Amey for clarification and Account Director, Tony Milton told us,
“As part of our partnership with Isle of Wight Council, we are redeveloping the Forest Park site, which will include building new waste treatment facilities.
“We are currently in discussions with a small number of employees based at this site whose roles may be affected during redevelopment. We are committed to looking at alternative employment within Amey and to minimising potential redundancies for these employees where possible.
“The majority of the existing, Island Waste team have already transferred to Amey as part of our new partnership. Some members of the team expressed a wish, where appropriate, to seek voluntary redundancy and this has been offered in small number of cases.”
Amey declined to confirm the number of staff members affected or whether any had accepted alternative positions around the country.
Amey: “Committed to creating local jobs”
OnTheWight contacted the union, the GMB, who said they understood affected staff had been told they would be given priority status once the recycling centre reopens in 2018.
Tony Milton added,
“Amey is committed to creating local jobs and expects to see a net increase in its Island-based team of around 30 employees over the next three years as we improve the facilities available and the range of services offered.”
Our thoughts are with those who have had to take redundancy and wish them well in their job search.
