Heath Kearns, the managing director of John Warrener Plumbing and Heating Ltd (JWL), has written to senior politicians and the Economic Development department to complain that his company is having to make six local men redundant as a result. He said the firm has been tendering for major contracts for many years but the climate has changed, mainly due to ‘the import of foreign companies and workforces’. ‘Local companies are being squeezed out,’ he said. He said the men being made redundant by the firm, which is based at Rue des Prés Trading Estate, were all local who have families and mortgages. Two have been with the company for 17 years. ‘We are not the only company that find ourselves in this position,’ he said. He said the day he had to tell the workers that the company could no longer afford to employ them was one of the worst of his life. What has infuriated Mr Kearns and his partners is that major contracts continue to go to outside firms.
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