THE treatment meted out to some 19 Swindon leisure centre workers has been shameful.

When leisure was handed over to the private sector we were led to believe there were better times ahead for staff and users alike.

Somebody should tell that to the workers who were due to be paid by new managers GLL on November 22, only to be told that they’d have to wait until December 19.

GLL blames Swindon Council for failing to pass on relevant pay details for the staff concerned, but offers no credible explanation as to why it failed to amend its payroll practices to help the blameless victims.

Could the workers not even have been advanced a small financial lifeline as a good will gesture?

The council, meanwhile, has offered a bland acknowledgement of the error and a brief apology. Its statement is careful to note that the 19 staff affected were among 300 transferred.

The local authority and GLL alike would do well to remember however many people were affected, be it 19, 190 or 290, what has happened is thoroughly unacceptable.

The victims of this bungle are not mere names on a list or counters to be pushed around a roster.

Each is a human being with a roof to maintain over their heads, clothes to put on their backs, food to put on their tables and quite possibly loved ones to provide for.

We suspect that if the hefty pay packets of those ultimately responsible for this affair were delayed by so much as 24 hours, there would be blood on the Moon.