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UK: Jobs and director to go at GCHQ?

01 May 1995

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Sir John Ayde, director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is to retire in the autumn of 1996, three years before he reaches his official retirement age of 60. Ayde was responsible for signing the banning order that removed trade union rights at the intelligence gathering centre. Following the ban a largely toothless, government approved Staff Federation was set-up in its place. The issue of union rights at the centre arose in March with the announcement that four hundred jobs are likely to be lost when the government privatises engineering work. Staff at the centre believe that the work will be transferred to a private company, leading to the loss of jobs. A spokesman for GCHQ said that it would finish a study of operations in September "and any changes will be implemented as soon as possible afterwards". In a separate development staff are demanding compensation for damage to their hearing after continuously monitoring the airwaves. Guardian 23.3.95; 4.4.95.

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