On 25/01/07, Richard Fairhurst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > At the 'open forum' event at the London Boat Show, Barry Gardiner claimed > that the only > effect of the grant cuts on BW was deferred maintenance. I asked Robin > Evans (who was > sitting alongside the Minister) to confirm this: "Robin, could you confirm > that the 180 > redundancies would have happened regardless of the grant cuts?" > > He answered: "You know those efficiencies have _always_ been our plan." (I > didn't.) He > went on to explain that the DEFRA cuts have just made it happen a little > sooner than would > otherwise have been the case. > > So when David Miliband answered that a retreat from freight was BW's > decision, not his, > BW would back him up. BW wanted to abolish the freight department, > "retire" the > restoration director, and close the Birmingham office anyway.
I am most concerned by this posting. The implications seem to me to be alarming. I had been led to believe that as a direct result of the DEFRA cuts 180 people had been made redundant. Now I find that this was simply not true and that the redundancies would have happened anyhow! It makes me wonder how much more of what we've been protesting about in conjunction with BW, and with BW's support, would have happened anyhow, regardless of DEFRA? Steve [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
