Neo-liberalism, privatisation, de-regulation, profit maximisation, cost minimisation and the Security of London Olympics

: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 14 July 2012; Hits: 5704

I signed up for security course in 90 seconds! Undercover Mail reporter experiences the shambolic G4S training centre

“Such is the desperation of G4S bosses to fill security places that when I walked into their Olympic base I was signed up to a training course within 90 seconds. Once inside, utter confusion reigned in the makeshift centre in the shadow of the Olympic Park. I had arrived shortly before 9am on Thursday posing as an unemployed man seeking work as a security guard. With no checks or questions, I was whisked into a large lecture hall with 130 other people and a woman demanding to see my passport. ‘Passport, name, date of birth,’ she barked. I handed it over. I was now officially signed up to complete.”…

So how did this chaos ever happen?

…CHEAP LABOUR (Neo-liberal cost minimisation, profit maximisation. KM)

…”G4S has faced accusations that the crisis has been caused not only by poor management, but by hiring cheap, inexperienced labour at the last minute to keep costs down. Basic security guards are paid just £8.50 an hour while on Olympics duty. Hundreds, if not thousands, are foreign nationals, some with a very poor command of even basic English. One retired police sergeant said he walked out of a top-level G4S Olympics post because, he claimed, the company was ‘more interested in money than security’.

The Met officer, who spent 35 years in uniform, took up a security manager role in April but left after two days. He said only one in ten people at his Security Industry Authority (SIA) training could speak English and classes were overflowing with up to 80 people. The officer told the Daily Mail he also ran into two suspicious characters he recognised from his time policing the streets of the capital.”…