Coastguard job restructuring

You're Fired 16/7/11

Sirs,

So the Government has listened to the voice of the people and agreed to maintain the two coastguard centres at Stornoway and Lerwick - or have they?

Although appearing to follow public opinion, there is a sting in the tail to this sorry episode - Coastguard Officers will have to apply for their own jobs!

Is this is the morale-boosting message that the coastguard service wishes to announce to its staff, who have been treated very shabbily throughout?

There should be a very short and resounding reply to that proposal.

Some may say it's a fair way to retain personnel - but, like local authority re-organisation, it does not apply across the board as only those coastguard personnel serving the public at rescue co-ordination centres will have to re-apply for the job they have been doing for years.

Strangely enough, the Chief Coastguard will not have to re-apply for his job, despite his less-than-effective handling of the whole affair.

Neither, it seems, will senior management within the service - why not?

What about the civil servants and ministers who cobbled together the whole mis-mash - should they just walk away?

During previous station closures, only those officers affected had to apply for a posting at the remaining stations - this would have been the expected result, but for all Coastguard Officers at all Rescue Co-Ordination Centres to have to re-apply is ludicrous!

To expect them to continue to provide a dedicated service while under this latest threat is a disgrace - but they will, because unlike the bureaucrats who sit twiddling their knives and forks over lunch while making "important" decisions, these coastguard officers take pride in what they do.

Maybe the MCA should ask Sir Alan Sugar and his team to come in instead, take a look at the performance of the various individuals and groups who decided on this debacle in the first place and then say the immortal words "You're Fired!" to the various "team leaders."

Norman G Smith

7 Gress

Isle of Lewis