Members may have seen a letter from the Wyre Council leader Peter Gibson in the Blackpool Gazette on 20th March 2013. The letter can be found here.
The PCS Regional Secretary Peter Middleman has written to the editor of the newspaper, along the following:
"Dear Editor
Councillor Gibson’s letter (Gazette Letters 20th March) regarding the closure of Norcross is missing a few points.
Councillor Gibson states that no DWP jobs will be lost due to the closure. Actually that still remains to be seen, however 3000 DWP jobs have already been lost from the Fylde Coast due to the cuts of both this and the previous government. This has been an economic disaster for the Fylde Coast.
What the closure of Norcross does is to cement in these job losses and make them absolutely permanent. They can never return in the future as the office accommodation will have been lost. Certainly some retail jobs might arrive in the future, although whether they will detract from existing retail jobs is another question. But they will certainly not number 3000, and may very well be paid even less than civil servants (if that is still possible and legal). Hence this will not compensate for the destructive effect on the Fylde economy of the loss of 3000 DWP jobs.
Secondly, Councillor Gibson has not referred to the loss of up to 130 privatised ex-civil service jobs including messengers, drivers, cleaners, caterers and guards. There will be compulsory redundancies amongst this group of workers and this is a “will be” not a “might happen” scenario. The PCS has repeatedly warned about this to all who have been willing to listen.
The privatisation of these groups of staff has contributed to putting their jobs at risk, as has the privatisation of the estate itself. The “owners” of Norcross (and the DWP itself, that we are given to understand takes a half share in the proceeds in event of any sale) will make many millions on the back of these job losses. I cannot of course comment on “people getting off their backsides to find work”, but this strikes me as easy money, to be achieved by making some very low paid workers redundant, and making 3000 permanent DWP job losses. The proceeds of the sale are unlikely to remain in the Fylde.
Our members would have appreciated the support of Wyre Borough Council in our attempt to stop these job losses, which began in 2004. Our priority is to try every means of preventing job losses for our members. However for some, the priority seems to be making millions for the privatised owners of the Norcross site.
Yours sincerely
Peter Middleman
North West Regional Secretary
Public and Commercial
Services Union"
