W Scottish cuts 130 jobs
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• The announcement that Western Scottish is to make 130 conductors redundant in the company's Clydeside area has led to fresh accusations from Eddie Cassidy, the shop steward leading an Englishbacked third-party bid for the Western company which is to be sold off as part of the Scottish Bus Group privatisation.
Cassidy accuses Western's management team of "an illdisguised attempt to reduce the number of employees in support of our bid for the company, to make the management's present minority look better."
Western management dismisses these statements as "factually incorrect and mischievous". Managing director Alan Wilson says: "Our decision to bring the former Clydeside operation into line with the entire industry in the UK was a straightforward and simple step. Clydeside is one of the few companies to employ conductors.
"Following the merger with Western there was need to rationalise both companies; it is regrettable but inevitable that we would have to make a number of our employees redundant. Out of a total of 2,000 jobs, we have laid off 70 fulltime and 60 of the part-time employees."
Wilson also dismisses as "ludicrous" the claim by the Paisley-based shop stewards that the company would be faced with increased costs when it returned its operations to driver-only.
Cassidy says he has written to Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Scotland, offering to buy the company now if it is making a loss: "We are so far along the line of getting our bid together, that if Rifkind allowed us to buy now and let us show how well we can run it, we could come up with the cash within four weeks."
Wilson says: "I must say I view this latest outburst as a spoiling action in an attempt to upset the plans and progress achieved by the management and employees over the last three months."
Stephen Trennery, who heads South East Bus Investments, has re-affirmed the consortium's interest in buying SBG subsidiaries, though he will not disclose which companies have been targetted.
The consortium, set up in March, consists of former National Bus Company subsidi-• ary companies Maidstone and District, East Kent, Eastern Counties, Cambus and the Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company.