Unions have called the decision by the Ministry of Defence to accept an in-house bid for all military storage and distribution “a bitter sweet victory” as 2,000 jobs will still be lost across the UK.
The decision, which was announced by defence secretary John Reid this morning, is part of the Future Defence Supply Chain Initiative and will mean a complete restructuring of the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency which currently employs 4,000 people.
Defence union Amicus has cautiously welcomed the decision as an alternative to the trend toward PFI procurement but will campaign to prevent closures at three out of five main distribution centres at Stafford, Llangennech, Wales and Longtown, Cumbria.
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Laurence Faircloth, national officer for the MoD, said: “This news could be sweetened if the MoD takes on board our arguments that there is no need to make 2,000 redundancies.
“What is refreshing is that Dr Reid is prepared to buck the trend of privatisation as being the only procurement option across all parts of the MoD.”
