G4s mercenaries mess up London Olympics

This music video from England is called Steve Ignorant (Crass) Securicor, Banned from the Roxy.

Securicor is another name for G4S mercenary corporation; and for GSL. Lyrics of the Crass song Securicor are here.

By Rory MacKinnon, Corporate Affairs Reporter in London, England:

Olympic mess helps sink police sell-off

Thursday 12 July 2012

Unions piled onto Olympic security bunglers G4S today as its Herculean screw-ups helped scupper a £1.5 billion police privatisation plan.

Despite handing G4S £284 million to safeguard the Games with 14,000 security guards the company has just 4,000 ready to go and 20,000 in training.

Manic ministers have had to call in another 3,500 soldiers to cope – just two weeks before the opening ceremony.

And now West Midlands and Surrey police chiefs have put in doubt the future of the £1.5bn contract to do vital police work, which G4S had hoped to sink its teeth into.

Surrey Police said today it had changed its mind and was pulling out of the whole thing.

And the West Midlands Police Authority said it would carry on but leave any decision to the new police and crime commissioner set to be elected in November.

The original tender carried extra weight thanks to dozens of other forces signalling their interest but “without any obligation” to join the sell-off.

Originally revealed in March, the document states the forces want to hand privateers all services that “can legally be delegated to the private sector.”

Dozens of Unite and Unison union members representing police staff rallied outside the West Midlands police headquarters in Birmingham today, where West Mids and Surrey chiefs were meeting.

Unison national officer Ben Priestley said Surrey’s decision to stop showed it had “seen the light.”

And Unite general secretary Len McCluskey condemned the West Mids’ decision to press on in any way, especially after the Olympic security “fiasco.”

He said: “Yet again a public service – this time the army – is forced to mop up after a failing private contractor, at considerable cost to the taxpayer and damage to the reputation of London’s Olympics.

“If G4S can cut corners with the Olympics then it doesn’t bear thinking about what they will do to essential police services like 999 call handling or forensics.

“It beggars belief that these private companies can be seriously considered as providers of essential public services like policing,” he said.

The West Midlands Police Federation’s chairman Ian Edwards said: “This is shambolic – we’ve known the Olympics were coming to London for seven years.”

G4S has already made major inroads into Britain’s public sector. It runs six private prisons and three immigration detention centres, and in April won a 10-year, £200m contract to design, build and run a set of police cells near Lincolnshire’s police headquarters at Nettleham.

Olympic security chaos: depth of G4S security crisis revealed: here.

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Workers at London Olympics sponsor balloted for action over pay

An Olympics sponsor at the centre of the government’s cuts to disability benefits faces action during the Games, according to the Public and Commercial Services Union.

Around 1,500 workers are to be balloted across Atos Healthcare and Atos IT Services, after they voted by 95 percent and 89 percent respectively to reject below-inflation pay offers. Workers from sites across the country could potentially be taking industrial action during the Olympic Games, which lists Atos as a “worldwide partner.”

The involvement of around 400 administrative and reception staff may mean health assessment centres having to close. Its IT division provides round-the-clock technical support to BBC production staff and on-air presenters across the UK, as well as fault diagnosis at vehicle test centres.

Atos has been criticised for its handling of “back to work” tests on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, done in order to cut benefits.

Atos is sponsoring the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, prompting disabled activists to call for a boycott. Earlier this year, the former chairman of Atos, Bernard Bourigeaud, was co-opted onto the governing body.

Atos is the IT partner of the games and is building the web site.

The company has consistently refused to pay the official “living wage” to its staff—£7.20 an hour, or £8.30 an hour in London. Atos made annual profits worth more than £280 million, a 6.7 percent increase on the previous year.

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/wkrs-j13.shtml

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Bomb hoax callers face prosecution

Olympics: Hoax callers who try to disrupt Olympic events in Scotland with a bomb scare could face up to seven years in jail.

A “tough prosecution stance” will be taken against anyone making hoax bomb or fire calls during the Games, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland said today.

“The eyes of the world are on Great Britain and Scotland will be a showcase for football competitions in Glasgow,” he said.

http://morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/121670

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