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By Andy McCue, 23 February 2004 14:35

NEWS Bradford council IT staff have won their battle against being forced to permanently transfer to the private sector as part of a £100m outsourcing deal that could see a radical change in the way public sector outsourcing deals are structured in the future.

An all out strike by the council's 135 IT staff was only averted at the eleventh hour last month after the council agreed to negotiate with the Unison union over demands for a secondment option instead of the usual TUPE permanent transfer to the winning private sector bidder.

Atos KPMG and IBM/ITNet are left in the running for the 10-year Bradford-i project to overhaul the council's IT infrastructure after Cap Gemini Ernst & Young was rejected. A supplier is expected to be selected next month, with the contract to run from July.

Staff had voted in favour of strike action after requests for secondment were ignored but that was postponed and after three weeks of tripartite talks between the union, council and bidders the council has agreed to move forward on a secondment basis with the option of a permanent TUPE transfer for those IT staff who want it.

Unison said IT staff at Swansea, which is about two months behind Bradford in a similar outsourcing deal, and Rochdale, which has just put out an initial pre-tender notice, have already been asking for advice.

Unison lead negotiator Patrick Kerry said: "This agreement is groundbreaking and will pave the way for similar agreements elsewhere, not just in Bradford but in the wider local government community."

The settlement will be recommended to Unison members at a meeting later this week but Kerry said there are still assurances that need to be made on how the secondment will operate and that those who are seconded will not be treated less favourable than those who transfer permanently.

Council Leader, Margaret Eaton, said in a statement: "We are very pleased...an agreement has been reached that has averted the threat of industrial action. This agreement is not only good for staff but will also allow us to improve the service we provide to people across the Bradford district."