Difference between revisions of "Weir Group"
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*[[Mike Dearden]] Non-executive Director | *[[Mike Dearden]] Non-executive Director | ||
| − | *[[Mary Jo Jacobi]] appointed 1 January 2014. Jacobi is on the board of the UK government's [[Advisory Committee on Business Appointments]]. She is currently Managing Director of her own consultancy practice and a Non-Executive Director of [[Mulvaney Capital Management]]. She is a Senior Associate of The [[Leadership Council]] and holds several advisory and consultancy roles in the not for profit sector. | + | *[[Mary Jo Jacobi]] appointed 1 January 2014. Jacobi is on the board of the UK government's [[Advisory Committee on Business Appointments]]. She is currently Managing Director of her own consultancy practice and a Non-Executive Director of [[Mulvaney Capital Management]]. She is a Senior Associate of The [[Leadership Council]] and holds several advisory and consultancy roles in the not for profit sector.<ref> [http://www.weir.co.uk/media/press-releases/news/2013/12/directorate-change Directorate change], The Weir Group website, 10 December 2013 announcing appointment date as 1 January 2014, accessed 16 June 2014 </ref> |
===See also=== | ===See also=== | ||
Revision as of 03:34, 16 June 2014
The Weir Group PLC is a UK-listed engineering company. It was founded in 1871 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947. According to its website 'Weir employs just under 8,000 people worldwide across five divisions, in closely aligned, independently successful companies, each with leading brand name products in their own sectors.'[1]
Contents
Role in Iraq
According to Corporate Watch:
- Supported by the British government, Weir – Scotland's 20th largest company – is playing a key role in economic imperialism and feeding the west's oil addiction.
- 'I don't often praise the government, but thanks to the efforts of [DTI secretary] Patricia Hewitt we got the right introductions. A couple of months ago we had our guys in Washington DC talking to Halliburton and other companies about this work, and the government put forward our name at the very highest levels. We hope to see more outcomes like this contract.' Mark Selway, Chief Executive of the Weir Group.
- Selway was commenting on the occasion when, in 2003, Weir became the first Scottish company to win 'reconstruction' contracts in Iraq: assessing the state of Iraq's oilfields and providing equipment for oil extraction. Weir had already been involved in Iraqi oil extraction for fifty years. As Peter Syme, Weir's managing director of engineering services, said, 'There is a lot of potential for us in the power market because a lot of the equipment that Iraq bought to operate its plants was made by us. We'd be upgrading our own infrastructure.'
- Oil pumping equipment was not the only thing Weir was providing pre-invasion Iraq with. In 2004 Weir came to public attention as one of many western companies which had been colluding with Saddam Hussein's abuse of the UN's Oil for Food programme – assisting Saddam in filling his own pockets rather than spending money on essential food and medical equipment for Iraqi people. The company admitted that it was unable to account for £4.2 million. As it becomes increasingly clear that the war in Iraq is not over, and that the occupying troops are not in control of the situation, contracts become more difficult to keep. Weir's initial Halliburton contract was expected to open up a multi billion pound market, but in May 2005 Selway said the company would lose £20 million due to 'instability' in Iraq. Weir has laid off over 300 workers in Scotland and more around the UK, and even the management's fat cat wages have gone down after an increase in 2004.
- The Weir Group also continues to provide oil pumping equipment in Sudan, where according to a Christian Aid report, 'Troops are terrorising civilians, burning homes and attacking villages in a war for oil.' Sudan's first export of crude oil in 1999 marked a turning point in an already complex civil war, with oil becoming the main objective and primary cause. Oil revenues are used by the government to buy weapons and ammunition, and the expansion of of oil extraction precipitates violent evictions. According to a former Sudanese governor, who had just managed to escape with his life:
- 'Without British technology, that oil cannot come out of the ground and it cannot be pumped through the pipe-line. Supporting the oil industry is supporting war... People will fight back because this is their land, More death, more killing, more suffering to the civilian population'.[2]
People
Board
- Mark Selway Chief Executive
- Alan Mitchelson Director and Secretary
- Keith Cochrane Finance Director
Non-executive directors
- Sir Robert Smith Chairman
- Professor Ian Percy CBE Deputy Chairman & Senior Non-executive Director
- Stephen King Non-executive Director
- Christopher Clarke Non-executive Director
- Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (George) GCMG, FRSE, PC Non-executive Director
- Mike Dearden Non-executive Director
- Mary Jo Jacobi appointed 1 January 2014. Jacobi is on the board of the UK government's Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. She is currently Managing Director of her own consultancy practice and a Non-Executive Director of Mulvaney Capital Management. She is a Senior Associate of The Leadership Council and holds several advisory and consultancy roles in the not for profit sector.[1]
See also
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Directorate change, The Weir Group website, 10 December 2013 announcing appointment date as 1 January 2014, accessed 16 June 2014
Notes
- ^ Weir Group Group facts and figures, accessed February 2007.
- ^ Corporate Watch WEIR -- REAPING THE BENEFITS OF WAR Newsletter 25 >> 9
- ALASTAIR REED End of an era as Weir announces Cathcart closure The Scotsman, Fri 18 Mar 2005
- JAMIE DETTMER Special to the Sun Companies That Broke Iraq Sanctions Awarded Contracts in Postwar Iraq The New York Sun, November 18, 2004 edition
[[Category:Fracking]
