Jobs row as centre announces more cuts

In a staff meeting yesterday morning, employees were told they have until November 18 to accept the outsourcing proposals, which the centre believes will reduce operating costs by £500,000 per year.

The “change to its operating model” does not affect senior management and comes on the back of 52 redundancies - nearly half the workforce - at the centre earlier this year.

The Harrogate Branch Secretary for UNISON, Dave Houlgate, said: “Last Friday staff were presented with an ultimatum to accept reduced terms and conditions, which included a real terms pay cut, changes to working patterns and compulsory holidays forced upon them.

“No sooner had we lodged a dispute over what we consider unreasonable and vague proposals than HIC announced its intention to outsource many of its services and make further redundancies.

“Understandably staff are on the floor about all these proposals. We are told these proposals will save £0.5m a year but we’ve seen nothing to back up this claim.”

Harrogate Council’s leader, Coun Don Mackenzie, said: “We recognise that HIC needs to adapt in order to prosper in what is a challenging and highly competitive market.

“The director has set out his proposals to give the business greater resilience and flexibility in these uncertain times, and to make it better able to profit from the upturn in the market, which will surely come. Above all, we must act to protect the interests of our taxpayers, and to ensure that we continue to avoid cuts to the services, which we deliver to our residents.”

The HIC, which opened in 1982, is the third largest integrated exhibition and convention centre in the UK.