I WRITE in support of comments made in last week's paper by Ben Perry.
I was convenor at UEF (Garringtons) at the time of closure in March, 2002. Mr Perry was absolutely right in saying Garringtons workers were not offered any help with council tax or anything else.
Garringtons was a lynchpin of the local community for more than 50 years and deserved and earned more respect than Bromsgrove District Council could ever dream of.
The workforce not only lost their pension rights, but the age profile was such that more than half were 50-years-old or above and found it extremely difficult to find new employment.
Did Bromsgrove Council show any support? No.
I fully support Rover employees receiving assistance, in fact I believe more could have been done to help them. As far as Rover worker pensions are concerned, I believe they will be able to claim assistance from the PPF (Pension Protection Fund) which should guarantee them up to 90 per cent of their original pensions.
The PPF was introduced as a direct reply to the campaigning carried out by UEF workers and trade unions.
Unfortunately, as Ben Perry stated last week, UEF workers do not fit into the criteria to enable them to claim under the PPF. We must continue to fight for our pension rights.
I read Mr Psirides' comments that the council tried to help Garringtons. I cannot accept Mr Psirides' claims as on a number of occasions he said that houses would not be allowed to be built on the Garringtons site. His actual comment was that the site would only be allowed to become housing over the council's dead body.
Perhaps now is the time for all ex-Garringtons workers to attend the funeral.
Mick Ball, Milton Road, Catshill
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