Letter to Eileen McKeever

Letter to Eileen McKeever about lock keepers:

Dear Ms McKeever

I read with interest your latest press release whereby you stated that "you will not be making people redundant" and "we will not be making people homeless". That being the case I should be pleased if you would clarify the following points:

How do you intend to dispose of 22 lock houses without making redundancies. Out of 57 houses the EA intends to retain 25 (at least for the time being). How do you intend to slot the remaining staff into those positions within the next 5 years?

You say you will ensure that all staff will have a suitable home to go to. Is this a home that the EA is planning on providing for us or one you are expecting us to provide for ourselves?

If you are hoping that we will provide our own home, how are you expecting lock-keepers to afford to rent/mortgage on their current salaries? Andrew Graham has already indicated that the EA will not be increasing salaries. I recall us having a conversation a couple of years back when you told me that the EA had decided to scrap their plans to introduce tenancy agreements/rent for lock-keepers because you would have to increase salaries accordingly and therefore it was counter productive.

If you are not re-housing us, your proposal represents a 50% cut in salary. No other EA staff are facing a 50% cut. While I appreciate that there are lock-keepers living in their own accommodation, most that I know have other income to supplement their salary (e.g pension) or are mortgage free. I believe that it will also make recruitment and retention of staff difficult and expensive on the current salary package.

If lock-keepers and their families are not able to come to an amicable agreement with regard to any proposed move, can you guarantee that the EA will not use constructive dismissal as an option to lever them out and therefore effectively making them redundant.

I understand that the EA had hoped to ease the uncertainty by producing the list of houses for disposal. But instead this has now increased the uncertainty and anxiety for those families on the list. The EA should not have produced a list until all measures were in place (both for the River and for the Lock-keepers). Instead it would appear that the EA will release information piecemeal and according to your press release, families could be living with this uncertainty for years to come.

I would urge the EA to stop these proposals now and reconsider the harm it is doing not only to your staff and their families but also to public relations.

I look forward to receiving your reply to the above points at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely

and response from Eileen McKeever:

Kings Meadow House, Kings Meadow Road, Reading, RG1 8DQ.
Customer services line: 08708 506 506
Email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk
www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Date: 23 May 2008

Dear Mrs D
Thank you for your letter dated 8 May 2008.
I want to start this letter by saying that I do understand the concerns of you and
others who are affected by the changes we are making.
This decision has not been taken lightly, especially given the impact it has on the
people affected. However, it has been made with the best interests of our business,
public and customers in mind and the best use of public money.
In response to the specific points raised in your letter;
1. Firstly, I need to make clear that 35 of the 57 lock-keepers houses are being
retained and not 25 as stated in your letter. As you point out (in point 4), we have
never housed all the lock-keepers and this will not change. For obvious reasons,
I cannot go into detail about other people’s situations, but there are a number of
lock-keepers who will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, and this will
help us to manage the changes.
2. We wish to work with you over the coming months to identify key issues and
dates that will affect potential alternative suitable accommodation. We see this as
being a two way process to reach a suitable conclusion.
3. Like any other large organisation, we review our pay and reward schemes on a
regular basis and this is no exception. We will communicate details to our
employees when more information is available.
4. As stated in my response to point 3, we will keep employees informed of changes
regarding pay and reward reviews at the appropriate time.
5. We have a five year period to implement this transition and we wish to work with
you to explore all options available.
6. We have a policy of being open and honest in our communications. Sometimes
this means communicating changes before all of the information is available.
However, we will continue to communicate with our staff as developments arise.
7. As said previously, we are making this change in the best interest of our
business, the public and our customers. We believe it is the best way forward
and we will be making the changes proposed to enable us to invest more in the
facilities needed on the river provide a better service during the summer months.

Yours sincerely
EILEEN McKEEVER
Waterway Manager
Direct dial 0118 953 5527
Direct fax 0118 957 4165