US-style hire and fire culture spells doom

How ironic it is that in December 2011, in the lead up to Christmas, there was an announcement by another Swindon-based US company, Biomet, that it was to move out of Swindon to consolidate operations at its Bridgend plant in Wales, with a loss to the town of 220 jobs, as it stood to gain from some sort of government relocation handout.

This type of US-style hire and fire culture will hit our town at a time when we all need it the least. But of course, it is normal practice in the United States, and it may well become more prevalent amongst other foreign owned and indeed British owned companies, as a little piece of legislation was sneaked through, almost unnoticed by Cameron’s coalition government, in the last budget.

This makes it much easier to get rid of workers at the drop of a hat, extending the probationary or trial period while taking away their rights to take unscrupulous employers to employment tribunals.

This of course will do very little to help Swindon with its record high rate of youth unemployment and can only lead to make an already dire situation much worse, at a time when this country needs an American-style high and fire culture like a hole in the head.

Whilst listening to Wiltshire Radio the other morning I was fortunate enough to catch an interview with Jim D’Avila, a Swindon Unite union official, who was speaking about the job losses at Patheon.

The fellow interviewing him asked: “Shouldn’t someone be jumping on a plane to the US head offices of this company to take it up with the owners directly?”

I thought to myself it may be a good idea, though I fear that it would certainly fall upon deaf ears.

G A Woodward Nelson Street Swindon

It’s ruff justice

Reference Mrs Hailstone's awful attack to her and her dog.

All I can say is good luck to her in trying to get the dogs destroyed.

What happened in my case was my 14-year-old loved Yorkie, Rusty, was attacked and killed by three Staffies on my front garden last November, one of which attacked a Great Dane and bit the owner before Rusty’s attack, which was reported to the police and dog warden.

I was told by the police that I was lucky that the attack on Rusty had even made it to court, but having got there the prosecution disregarded the other reported incidents with the three dogs as hearsay, so all the magistrates did was put control orders on the dogs, but no destruction order.

You can imagine how totally let down I was by our so called justice system.

How many chances do these savage dogs deserve?

All that I can say is, good luck to Mrs Hailstone in trying to get any justice over this incident in her quest for it.

Vincent Goodwin Tamworth Drive Swindon

Arthritis help

A while ago you kindly printed my letter in the Swindon Advertiser about my recovery from arthritis using a drug free, self help approach.

I explained that I'd written a booklet to help fellow sufferers and many people contacted me.

Maybe readers would be interested to know that, so far, 44 people have reported back to say that this method really seems to help them as well.

If others would like to give it a try they might like to visit www.arthritisrecovery.co.uk or ring me on 01706 344429.

Sarah Gall Hawthorn Road Rochdale

Unhappy at report

The story your newspaper published (Ex-anti bullying boss paid to probe charity, Adver, May 14) alleges my company, HR & Diversity Management Ltd, was engaged by Threshold Housing Link to investigate an internal issue.

I cannot comment on whether this is the case, because our work is confidential. However, I would like to take issue with the article.

Your story was about an internal issue at Threshold Housing Link. Despite this, you chose to use a large photograph of me, and referred to my company and me on at least half-a-dozen occasions. You made full reference to previous articles which have been published about me and the National Bullying Helpline I set up, and yet they had nothing whatever to do with the story you were running.

Finally, despite this unbalanced reference to me and my company, at no time did your newspaper come to me and ask me for a comment.

At HR & Diversity Management we believe that any business is only as good as the skills and expertise within it. We have a wealth of expertise and have worked in the arena of people management for more than 15 years, in both the public and private sector. Some of our services are specialist and highly confidential and we have the necessary qualifications and insurances in place. We are known as the UK leading experts on dispute resolution and workplace malpractice.

The National Bullying Helpline is a privately run, national, helpline. There is much need for an anti-bullying helpline in the UK and we are immensely proud to be able to both fund and resource this service. I consider the way you went about your story was unfair practice and a potential breach of The Editor’s Code of Practice and for this reason I have made a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.

Christine Pratt HR & Diversity Management Ltd Swindon

Heartfelt thanks

To the Cardiac Clinic at GWH, we would like to thank consultant Dr Chandrasekaran for his skill, care and patience, Ann Creedon, heart failure specialist nurse, for all her help when required, and to the pacemaker technicians and the ECG nurses for their humour. Last but not least, the reception staff for all the changed appointments.

Everyone was so helpful and caring and the aftercare was second to none.

Mr & Mrs H Howard Kennedy Drive Swindon

Not so stoical

In c334 BC, Zeno of Citium, the father of stoicism, was born. He went to Athens as a young man and attended Plato’s academy.

His own school, the Stoa Poikile (Painted Porch) gave the stoic school of philosophy its name.

Stoicism had potential because it applied to everyone and everyone was alike. I often wonder how Zeno would have dealt with living in a modern day Swindon.

His tolerance would have been rigorously tested by issues such as littering, spitting, dog fouling, blasphemy, smoking, excessive drinking, greed and various other sins.

Sometimes living in Swindon makes me think I’m vicariously experiencing the Jeremy Kyle Show full time. It really can get that bad! Folk choose to display anti-social behaviour and unwittingly share their tortured relationships with Joe Public, me et al.

Oh to be more stoical! But even Zeno supposedly opted out of life in c265 BC aged about 70. What went wrong for Zeno? Nowadays with modern medicine, many of us old timers can enjoy a fit and active retirement with a life span of 100 years.

Ms A Reeve Okus Road Swindon

Dodgy source

May I, through your pages, thank Dr David Hill of the World Innovation Foundation for sharing with us the views of PricewaterhouseCooper’s chief economist, who claims that Labour would be incapable of returning this country to prosperity (Doomed Futures, Adver, May 10)?

Is this the same PricewaterhouseCooper whose audit division was routinely giving clean bills of health to many of the major banks and other financial institutions right up to the moment they went belly up?

Don Reeve Okus Road Swindon

Saddle up, ladies

Readers may be used to seeing me on the telly but I can also regularly be spotted on my bike – and I’m passionate about encouraging more women to take to the saddle.

One charity which is very close to my heart is Action Medical Research. This children’s charity is looking for lady riders to join its popular DIVA100 series in May. I would like to encourage your female readers to consider taking part.

I’ve been involved with Action Medical Research since I was a little girl and can vouch for them. This wonderful charity funds research into diseases and conditions that affect babies and children in the UK.

I am saddling up for the DIVA100 in Sussex on May 13, setting out from Cowdray Park in Midhurst, but rides will also take place in Scotland on May 20 and Warwickshire on May 27.

The DIVA100s offer a choice of two circular countryside routes, a 100km challenge or a shorter 50km course. Visit www.action. org.uk/diva or call Sarah Stevenson on 01273 735788.

Davina McCall London