Advice needed on assignment termination (manpower)

[photoworks]

I apologise for the long thread.
I have been working at IBM Greenock since 2001 (it would have been 10 years on September 21).
From September 2001 to August 2004, I was employed with Manpower.
From August 2003 to November 2008, I was employed with adduce (I had successfully applied internally to another position within IBM which was under the purview of Addeco).
In the summer of 2008, we learned that the desk on which I was working would be moving to Eastern Europe within a few months.
Among other things, I applied externally to Manpower for a job within IBM. For a long time, I didn’t hear about it. Then on Friday 14 November 2008, I was told that I had been successful (I learned as well by that time that the job was paid £1000 less than my current job) and that I would start on Monday 17 November on the condition that I sign a resignation letter from Adecco. It was Friday evening, I was tired after a long day at work, Knowing no better and fearing for my future, I complied (coincidentally, a few weeks later, my current desk was gone and my colleagues collected redundancy money).
In the winter of 2009, I was informed again that the desk on which I was working would move to india. I feared again for my job. I applied to several positions within IBM, but I failed at the interviews and I was not successful.

By March 2010, however, I was told, at the last minute again, that, after all, I was accepted on one of the positions that I applied earlier and which interview I failed (see above).
In April 2011, I applied for another position within IBM (a rotational 24/7 desk with night shift and weekends). I was selected for the interview but failed the interview).
In May 2011, The same position opened again and I reapplied. This time I was successful. I started the new job in the last week of June and thought that my worries would be at an end. The new job was all that I had dreamed for in a job. I was settling very well within my new team.
However, last Thursday evening, When I came to start my night shift, The hammer fell again. My Manpower HR told me that IBM was having budget reductions and that I am one of the people being asked. This information was given to me at 19h00 on that day, but they already drafted the letter.
The letter does not include any reason why I am laid off and it tells me that my assignment is terminated on September 30th 2011.
When I applied for that new position, in may, I was never told that the position was only for 3 months. I find it hard to believe that nobody knew before that there would be budget reductions. Last week, My IBM team leader had approved my holiday request for christmas 2011, apparently not knowing that I was to be terminated in the end of September.
Apparently there is another IBM position opening with Adecco, obviously with a lesser pay that the one I currently have.
I am told that I am slated for an interview on Wednesday. In my current state of mind, I am not sure that I will ace the interview.

I have the feeling that I have been taken for a fool (than they knew all along that there was going to get budget reduction but never told me anything). Do I have any ground to contest their decision ?
I am scared that in case I am successful for the Adecco position, Manpower will trick me into signing a resignation letter.
What if after I have been terminated (on September 30thj), they assign someone else to the position I currently hold ?
And Finally, Am I entitled to redundancy money ? Even though I am successful with Adecco position (after all, I am employed by Manpower, not IBM or Adecco, as they eloquently say). If Manpower terminates my work I should be entitled to redundancy money.

Bear in mind that even though I have, in effect, been working on the same site, within IBM, every time I “switched” from one employment agency from another, It was as if I started from scratch (all previous employment history was wiped out). If fact it was as if I was starting a whole new job each time (at least that is why I was told).
Your input would be very much appreciated as I feel very much desperate at the moment.

[teaboy2]

Re: Advice needed on assignment termination (manpower)

Hi Photoworks

The problem here is you are an agency worker as Manpower and adecco are recuritment agency's, the agreement between them and IBM is just that, between them and not you. You are solely under contract with the agency who has you on their books. Therefore when IBM say they no longer need your services theirs nothing you can do and the agency has to cease sending you to the place of work as a result.

This is why i personally hate agencys, as they make a killing out of exploiting employment loop holes that allow them to sign people up as agency workers and supply them to businesses whilst taking a cut from your wages as payment for finding you work, and at the same time getting paid by the company for whom you are sent to work for. But on top of that, as you are on the agency's books and not on the IBM's books then you do not have the same rights as a normal employee does and you would not be entitled to redundancy pay, and neither were your previous colleagues if they worked for the agency too.

So am sorry to say this, but their is very little you can do about this, though i would suggest you get off the agency's books and look for direct employment with an employer so then you get full employment rights and are not limited to the rights of a temporary worker. In otherwords, when IBM say they no longer need you, thats it, game over, no job, no redundancy pay, no right to claim unfair dismissal (as you where never IBM's employee). So unless the agency have a job lined up for you then your out of work.

[photoworks]

Re: Advice needed on assignment termination (manpower)

so why did adecco wanted a resignation later in 2008 as i explained in my original post if they can do all they want in all impunity without being liable to pay redundancy money. After all if they can do whatever they want, a resignation letter was not necessary, was it ?

[teaboy2]

Re: Advice needed on assignment termination (manpower)

Because, as you stated in your first post:

"I applied externally to Manpower for a job within IBM. For a long time, I didn’t hear about it. Then on Friday 14 November 2008, I was told that I had been successful (I learned as well by that time that the job was paid £1000 less than my current job) and that I would start on Monday 17 November on the condition that I sign a resignation letter from Adecco."

You see one agency will not take you on when you are on the books of another agency. You did not actually resign, but ineffect terminated the contract you had with adecco, which by the way is not an employment contract. But simply a contract where you provide them a service by working in work placements that their clients need workers for in exchange for a wage, which is taken from the fee that client pays the agency. So you were not resigning like you would under an employment contract but simply terminating your contract to provide your services to adecco.

To clarify - who paid you your wages IBM or the agency (i.e. whos company name was on your payslip)? If it was the agency then your contract was what is known as a contract for service (worker/temp/agency contract are other terms used). As such you would have no rights to redundancy pay under such contract. Though i believe you are still entitled to holiday pay for holidays you have not yet taken but have occured.

If though it was IBM name on your payslip then you would have an arguement for redundancy pay, as their name on your wage slip means you would have been IBMS employee, and only then would you be entilted to any redundancy pay.

This is why i hate employment agencies, as you have limited rights as a worker under an agencies contract for service, and why i prefer to take on my staff as employees, or as self employed work from home trade partners working on a commission basis. As that way, one, it is actually cheaper in the long run as the staff are far better train in the positions they hold and two, there is no addition cost of training like there is when you constantly use agency workers that may not have the experience in the industry or on the products par se (not saying that is the case for you though). Though its not agency workers i have an issue with; As previously, before i started my company, even i did some agency work, but never again, simply because of the lack of rights and the way you are treated by the agency themselves. Which is now something your now experiencing first hand. Thats why my advice to you is to end all agency contracts you have and seek full time employment with a company as a company employee, that way you get job security and would be entitled to redundancy pay in the event your position was made redundant and they are you able to find you a suitable alternative position.