Balfour to axe 66 Wolverhampton gas base workers
More?than 60 workers are to lose their jobs at the National Grid base in Wolverhampton, it was revealed this afternoon.
The 66 job losses at the Stafford Road site have been announced three months after Balfour Beatty took over contracts with National Grid to upgrade the gas distribution network in the West Midlands and North West.
Bosses said that since taking over the work they brought staff from five different organisations together and many roles had been duplicated.
They said that workers had first been made aware of potential job losses as soon as they took over the contract in April.
The firm has faced criticism for continuing to use sub-contractors at the same time as shedding workers although bosses today said they had no intention to use any more after axing staff.
James Merrylees, a spokesman for Balfour Beatty, said the company continued to employ 1,300 people working on contracts for projects connected to National Grid.
There are currently 600 workers at the Wolverhampton site. "In April this year Balfour Beatty took over two contracts with National Grid to upgrade the UK's gas distribution network in the West Midlands and North West," Mr Merrylees said.
"When Balfour Beatty took over the contracts we transferred the existing employees from five different organisations previously carrying out this work. This inevitably led to some duplication in roles.
"We have been consulting with employees since April on our plans to minimise this duplication and restructure our operations. These proposed changes will affect 66 people in the Wolverhampton area."
He said alternative opportunities for staff had been looked at where possible.
"Sub-contractor partners were engaged on this contract prior to Balfour Beatty taking it over, and we are looking to continue these relationships," he added. "We do not intend to increase our use of sub-contractors beyond this existing model."
A relative of a member of staff affected, who did not wish to give their name, said: "They are just putting these people on the scrapheap. They say they are overstaffed but they are making people redundant at the same time that they are using sub-contractors for their work."
