Letters / We are not that naïve!
Does Mr Duerden think the Shetland public is so naive as to believe him when he says that the 31 posts deleted from the ferry service have been lost by staff taking early retirement or voluntary redundancy? (Crew shortages raise ferry service fears; SN, 7/08/13)
What about those ferrymen who have (like those in other council departments) been living and working with the uncertainty of “temporary contracts” and whose employment was terminated when those contracts expired?
My son is 30 and does not fall into either of Mr Duerden’s favoured categories.
Finding himself out of work and with a young family to support they have now left Shetland as there are no alternative jobs for him here.
I returned from a visit to his new home on Thursday (8 August) only to find that Yell Sound had only one ferry running because of crew shortages. The irony of the situation was not lost!
The whole review process has been badly implemented; cutting staff before the needs to run the reduced timetable were fully considered, and then saying the disruption is due to sickness!
Whist all this has been going on, visitors to the north isles have been able to go to Fetlar, Unst and Yell only paying to cross Yell sound, all this summer!
Marie Hallam
6 Stakkafletts
Fetlar
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