Olympic Security
Posted: Thu 12 July, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, London Olympics, News, Thoughts 3 Comments »Another day, another Olympian feat of fuckuppery.
Today, it’s the news that 3,500 extra troops are being drafted in for Olympic security, in addition to the 13,500 already allocated to the job.
And why is this happening? Because ‘security group’ G4S (who used to be, if memory serves, Securicor, then Group 4) can’t guarantee that they can supply the full quota of 10,000 guards that they’ve been paid £300m to provide.
Some of the extra soldiers have only recently returned from postings overseas. And I wonder how many of them have also recently been told that they’re surplus to requirements ?
I am more and more glad that we decided not to apply for tickets.
Whatever happened to local jobs for local people? I can’t believe there aren’t umpteen unemployed in London and the home counties within easy commutable distance who would jump at a job like that. And aren’t there loads of students about just now? Or don’t students want to work during vacations these days?
From what I’ve heard/understand, G4S had plenty of applicants, and took on plenty of people.
However, the training of those people, and the deadline of next week, appears to have caught G4S by surprise (How? No idea) and they’re a lot later in their schedule than they should be.
I could be entirely wrong, but that’s how I understand it currently.
I agree with Blue Witch. Give the jobs to those people who have a stake in keeping their communities safe.