Disgusting treatment of redundant staff, says ex-chairman

7:45am Monday 20th August 2007

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THE way 150 workers at Evesham Techology were told they had lost their jobs was "disgusting", their former boss said this week.

Richard Austin, who was chairman of the company which went into administration two weeks ago, said: "The only thing that could have been handled better would be the way the administrators handled the staff. I thought it was disgusting.

"It was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a much more sympathetic approach."

Earlier, some of the 150 workers who lost their jobs told how they had been herded together into the staff canteen to be given the news by representatives from the Lanchashire offices of administrators DTE Leonard Curtis.

Mr Austin, along with 138 workers, had his services retained and is now working for the administrators.

Redundant staff were told their jobs had been terminated and they had to leave the building under the eye of security staff.

"I was not in a position to speak since the administrators were now in charge and in any case I was too emotional," he said.

Most of the assets of the company have been purchased by PCC Technology, a company controlled by Tahir Mohsan, one of the founders of Time UK.

Both Mr Mohsan and Mr Austin are directors of the newly-formed Geemore Technology, which will take over the running of Evesham Technology when the administrators' work is completed in the next few months.

Mr Austin said he was in agreement with Vale MP Peter Luff who says Prime Minister Gordon Brown is directly responsible for the partial collapse of Evesham by scrapping the Home Computer Initiative during his time as Chancellor.

He denied the firm had put too many of its eggs in one basket by investing heavily in the scheme, intended to put almost every home in the country on the web.

"At the time it was our best opportunity to make progress in a market that had become increasingly difficult," he said.

Of the 150 who lost their jobs, Mr Austin said: "They are redundant and will be able to claim redundancy and any holiday pay owing from the Government scheme."

Those who remain, he said, were working for the administrators under licence from PCC Technology.

Mr Austin said: "I have always tried to do my best for the staff here. That is why I fought so hard to retain something going forward. At the moment I am just a worker like everyone else here."