Maidstone to be hit hard by job losses

In the past few days two major employers in Maidstone have announced that they will be making drastic job cuts spelling misery for hundreds, if not thousands of Maidstone families.

Kent Police have announced 1500 jobs are to go, with around 1000 of these being administrative. The HQ for Kent Police is in Maidstone. Particularly galling is the reponse of the Tory MP for Rochester and Strood, Mark Reckless: "In the past few years many of my constituents have lost their jobs, many have had pay freezes or pay cuts. I do think savings need to be made. One element of that is numbers and the other is pay and pensions." I find it nauseating when uncaring politicians think it reasonable to dump on people like this. Perhaps the police should sack people for being drunk at work?

Also last week, it was announced that the Royal Mail sorting office in Maidstone is to close with an assumed loss of around 100 jobs. A new super sorting office covering much of West Kent is to open in Strood increasing the level of traffic and transport required to deliver and collect mail. I'm sure that people in Strood are not looking forward to the extra traffic!

The impacts that are not being reported are the effect on the families who suffer with wage earners being made redundant and the impact on people (especially older people and those without cars) who collect parcels from the sorting office in Maidstone.

In both cases, and with earlier KCC announcements, it will be front line services, the public and lower wage earners who take the brunt of the cuts.