THE BRITISH OLYMPIC GAMES - a commentary by FRANK WORRALL

THE OLYMPICS

- DO WE DESERVE TO HOLD THEM?

I’M looking forward to the Olympics in London this summer as much as anyone. But I can’t help but wonder if we really deserve to be holding them given the attitude of some people here.

Of course, sports lovers nationwide are anticipating the sporting feast with relish.
But not so the service industry workers who will (hopefully) transport us to the Olympic venues and provide safety cover for us at the Olympic Park in East London.

I only ask if we do deserve it after learning the following:

1. The London Fire Brigade has written to all firemen who retired in the last two years asking them if they are available to work inside the Olympic Park because of fears there will not be enough serving officers to do the job.

They have had to act because serving firefighters have been banned from working overtime by their unions.

2. Tube workers have threatened strike action after rejecting a £500 bonus to work during the Olympics. The RMT union have demanded more money for staff who have to work during the games – even though the tube drivers are already on around £48,000 a year, with rises guaranteed over the next three years to take them well over the £50k a year mark.

Now is it me, or isn’t this double strike threat out of order at a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet in the worst recession in living memory?

And shouldn’t the staff involved be thinking about how they have a once-in-lifetime opportunity to show the nation - and the world - how proud they are of their jobs, and how efficient they are?

Rather than seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cash in on a major event in their region?

It does make me think - especially when my nephew and his girlfriend are excitedly making plans to travel down to London for the summer to work in part-time jobs at the Olympics.

Because they can’t get work in their native Manchester...and they are so proud to be part of the Olympics experience that will probably never happen again in their young lifetimes (they are only in their early 20s).

Maybe they could talk to the London workers - who by comparison seem to be acting like spoilt brats - and get them to think again...