The Wardman Wire

Back in February I wrote about the saga of the SPCK bookshop chain in a post about the need to maintain dialogue between critcial different religions and philosophies:

About a year ago the venerable SPCK chain of Christian Bookshops (one arm of the literature work of SPCK - the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, who also do things such as funding libraries in theological colleges) were transferred to a charity called St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

and noted the pressures on staff:

Since the transfer took place, a large number of staff (for example 70% of the bookshop managers) have left, and there have been some major management changes - including an attempt to make major changes (which were perceived as detrimental) to the staff contract.

Doug Caplin, who writes at MetaCatholic reports that this has turned to tragedy in Worcester with the apparent suicide of Steve Jeynes, the ex-SPCK branch manager, two weeks after he was made redundant:

Here in Worcester things have now taken a tragic turn. The local branch manager Steve Jeynes has now been found dead, apparently by his own hand. He was made redundant two weeks ago, after having survived many staff purges and highly dubious pressures to accept a new contract.

While it would be wrong to assign blame in any straightforward way, it does seem highly likely that the months of unremitting destructive pressure on the business, as well as the blow of redundancy, will have at least helped create the circumstances in which this became a possible outcome.

This afternoon a couple of people had laid bouquets in the shop’s doorways as the news began to spread. I don’t know if they will be allowed to remain. Please pray for Steve’s family, and, if your theology allows, for the peace and healing of his soul. Pray also for justice and truth to prevail for all those who are suffering financially and personally as a result (direct or indirect) of the whole sorry mess that was once this well-loved bookshop chain.

I extend condolences from me and also from everyone else who writes here.

The saga has continued and extended - currently the owners have attempted to place the company in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in Texas (no one has explained quite how Chapter 11 applies to a British company), and there are currently 30 Industrial Tribunal cases in train and more to come.

If you are interested in the continuing saga, try these sources:

• Dave Walker’s blog for the history (warning: 75+ posts).
• A new blog SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info by Phil Groom and others for continuing developments.
• Church Times news reports (list of reports on Church Times blog).