Unfair treatment at work? Redundancy?

[angiebaby57]

I work for the County Council. The place I work at is scheduled to close although a date has not been set. I am based in a school. The centre I work in now is not operating although still not officially closed. I have been advised that once the date is set our jobs will be 'at risk' and we will be either re-deployed or made redundant as our posts will cease to exist. I have a permanant contract and have worked there for over 5 years. My question is this: One other member of staff ended up working in the main school, albeit not under a different contract as she was asked to look after a pupil that we had been working directly with. I was approached about this and had to go to another school temporarily to work (on the same contract). I have just been informed that this colleague has been redeployed into that position with her pay protected for 3 years. Should this post have been advertised, giving anyone the chance to apply? As I am in the same situation, should I not have been routinely approached in regard to this position? I am more qualified, more experienced and have a far better absence record than this person. I am still in limbo as I have not been approached with any oppurtunity and may well end up redundant. My union rep is very close friends with this colleague and I feel that I have been kept out of the loop. I am hoping that someone will know if what they have done is illegal? Many thanks.

[Lil O'lady]

Likely to be unfair, but not illegal. Ask for an alternative rep from your union to talk to - if they ask why, tell them your suspicions and fears. It reflects more on her than on you. The thing to do now is to look to the future and get the best possible solution for you - either redundancy pay or a compromise agreement if your union agrees relationships have broken down irrevocably.
It is a very wounding process to go through - but redundancy happens all the time, good times and bad. Your employers should be consulting with the unions about any planned restructures and if this is not happening a fuss should be made.

[buildersmate]

Firstly, you and your colleagues are not currently under consideration for redundancy (though I appreciate this may change).
Secondly you need to consider what protocols normally apply to job transfers within your workplace (and it does sound like this transfer occured within the same workplace?). In the private/commercial sector there is no way that such transfers get advertised each and every time. I am referring to transfers at the same grade - not transfers on promotion. Are such job opportunities generally always advertised in your work environment? If so, you might reasonably wish to enquire why this one wasn't.
Thirdly I'm not sure what you mean by 'pay protection' unless you mean the job is a lower grade and the successful applicant is subject to the salary being held flat for 3 yrs. One wonders how you know this - every organisation I have ever worked in, such individual arrangements are confidential between the individual and the HR department.
In summary, because of the first point, there is not yet any formal reason for the employer to seek to redeploy staff. I can't be sure about the fairness of the second point. certainly no employment law that I know of has been broken - your route, of course, would be a raise it as a grievance.

[angiebaby57]

Thank you both....as far as payment protection..its standard for all employees of the county council for the first 3 yrs of redeployment if the level u r redeployed to is a lower one. That is routine and written in black and white for anyone to see. Its a really stressful situation but not the end of the world...it just feels very unfair and has been done slyly when we were told that everything would be out in the open.
I will keep u informed as to developments and am grateful that u took the time to respond and offer your thoughts. xxx

[factor-fiction]

I assume the employee you are referring to was no longer needed and was redeployed there. There is probably a union agreement that the employer tries to redeploy surplus staff without adverising. It is quite a common practice