Contractor policy makes 'victims' out of NIW staff

摘要

Unite has hit out at Northern Ireland Water (NIW) for adopting a strategy of increasing the number of private contractors it uses. It says the company's workers "were victims" of such a policy. The government-owned utility's decision to reduce its workforce by 200 to 1,500 employees over the coming months has angered the union, which said it will continue to oppose the job losses. Unite said over half of the water company's water and sewerage activities had been contracted out. Chris Mellor, chairman of NIW, said the job losses were necessary to control costs. He said: "Everyone wants to see us improve the efficiency and service of NIW so this year we are embarking on a major programme to improve productivity in the business." NIW is in the process of transforming itself "into a government-owned company seeking to operate in a similar way to leading utility companies around the world". Mellor said the company was at the beginning of this process, and the work of the Independent Water Review Panel has provided a better picture of how this can ben achieved.