Shameful practice

The scandal of bullying and mistreatment of civilian workers at Hampshire Ministry of Defence establishments has finally seen the light of day.

The private sector Compass group’s wage cut threat to workers already on minimum pay and employment conditions, exposes a long-running scandal with MoD appointed contractors blatantly abusing employees’ working conditions and statutory employment rights.

Civilian workers in this sector of the economy are invariably employed on zero hours contracts, and conditions attached to permanent employment leave most of them unable to earn enough to live on without resorting to state benefits.

An unprincipled management structure is deployed to intimidate the vulnerable workforce into submission, threatening them with dismissal if they dare to complain.

The introduction of competitive tendering for MoD contracts where the contract is awarded to the lowest tender, has left thousands of civilian workers in the defence sector at the mercy of unscrupulous international companies dumbing down on their pay and conditions in order to boost their profits.

They are supported by the MoD who blatantly tur n a blind eye to incidents of bullying and employment malpractice brought to their attention by individuals and trade unions.

The MoD’s stance on the provision of support services by private contractors is a long-running outrage.

While there is no incentive to crack down on their immoral unprincipled practices, exploitation of a workforce at the bottom of the employment pile will continue without justice or constraint

Richard Thomson Gosport

An unprincipled management structure is deployed to intimidate the vulnerable workforce RICHARD THOMSON