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from Daily
Mirror Thursday 31 August 2000
 War Graves Scandal: We can't
look after the dead if they won't pay us a living
from HARRY ARNOLD in Ypres
and LUCY ROCK
IN Flanders' fields
yesterday, British workers were preparing to fight for their jobs.
 It is here, where
the flower of the nation's youth died in battle, that dedicated gardeners
tend the roses and memorials that mark their sacrifice.
Now Whitehall
cutbacks threaten to slash their annual pay by as much as pounds 6,000,
saving the Government only a few hundred thousand pounds a year.
One senior gardener
who cares for British war graves at Ypres in Belgium said: "What is
about to happen is a disgrace to the memory of the men who died.
"I have three
children and I am about to lose around £450 a month from my salary.
It will be impossible for me to survive and I shall have to return to
Britain."
Another gardener
explained: "Our task is to train local staff to tend the graves to
the highest possible standard. When we go the work will continue but we
believe the standards will drop.
"The local
gardeners are good workers. But to them it is just a job. They have no
understanding of the sensitivity involved in this work. I am not
saying that the graves will fall into rack and ruin, but they will not be
the superb monuments they are today.
"Do the
British people want the very best for the men who died for their freedom?
Or do they want second best?"
The 77 British
gardeners working for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission earn a basic
wage of between £10,500 and £13,500 a year plus an allowance for living
abroad. It is the cutback
on their overseas top-up, due in the autumn, which will cost them
thousands.
The commission is
responsible for cemeteries in 150 countries including France, Belgium,
Holland, Germany and India - and in the Far East and Africa.
Most of the
gardeners are based in northern France where thousands of visitors flock
each year, many looking for the plaques of relatives killed in action.
Visitors are struck
by the row upon row of dazzling white headstones and neat borders of
shrubs and roses.
Chris Kaufman, of
the TGWU union which represents many of the gardeners, said: "Their
dedication and pride in their work maintains these graves and cemeteries
impeccably.
"They are the
friendly British face for thousands of emotional pilgrimages by the modern
generation tracking down fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers to
their last resting place. We are proud
of their work and of the tremendous role played by the commission.
"But this has
hit them very hard. It will affect the poorest paid and those with
children the hardest. The TGWU will battle for justice on this issue, if
needs be taking it to the highest levels of government."
Andrew MacKinlay,
Labour MP for Thurrock in Essex, plans to challenge the cuts in the
Commons. He said: "The
Commonwealth and War Graves Commission does have a limited budget and that
should be revised. The
cemeteries are precious to all of us, including ex-servicemen and the
widows and relatives of soldiers who died fighting for our country.
"The local
staff are caring and professional, but the British staff have the language
skills and that extra bit of interest which is so important for visitors. I don't think
the public want to see the slightest reduction in standards in the
cemeteries."
One gardener who
looks after scores of cemeteries in northern France, said: "I am
looking at losing about pounds 6,000 off my yearly income. It's extremely
worrying. I've got
children of school age and this is going to make things very difficult.
"Our basic
wage is very low and we relied on the overseas allowance to give us a
living wage. We will have to tighten our belts and hope for the
best."
The gardener added:
"It is difficult for our wives to work because we are moved from
country to country every so often. I love working for the commission and
am really proud of the work I do. But I feel let down."
Another gardener,
who is losing around £4,000 a year, said: "We often chat to
visitors and help them find the headstones of their relatives and tell
them about the cemeteries or the battles where they were killed. But we are
dwindling in numbers and these cuts in allowances would make it more
difficult for family people to come and work here anyway.
"We look after
up to 45 cemeteries each, depending on their size, and supervise a team of
local staff to help us. We are trained horticulturists who teach the
locals how to dig and plant, but if we went I don't think the standards
would be the same."
Ironically, the
Europe-based directors who have control of the war graves have recently
had pay rises.
A gardener at Ypres
pointed out: "War graves commissioners come every year with VIP
visitors and they always stay in the best hotels. Just a short
while ago a party of them visited a war cemetery in Berlin and they all
stayed in the Berlin Hilton. I didn't take this job for the money, but the
waste at the top does make me angry."
Peter Francis,
spokesman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said: "The
allowances have been recalculated.
"There has
also been a reduction in the number of UK staff serving overseas. We are
employing far more local staff than in the past.
"Like any
organisation we have to account for our budget and make sure we spend that
in the best possible way to achieve the best standards we can."
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