This is the Bombardier, Canadian owned, railway carriage building company in Derby. Bombardier had just axed 1,400 jobs at its Derby plant after failing to win a contract. Not any contract, either, but one awarded by the British Government to build 1,200 train carriages for the Thameslink commuter service into London. Having assessed the bids, ministers awarded the £1.5 billion prize to a consortium led by Germany’s Siemens.
How the fuck does that make sense?
Now I know that under EU rules they have to go with the most competitive bid, but what does it cost to throw 1400 workers on the scrapheap? Should that not be added to the price of the contract? Could you imagine the same thing happening in France? Or Germany?
