I still don't remember those happier times. The same exercise to reduce H24 engineering staff at the Airports happened prior to PPP as did the closing of regional maintenance bases. In fact staff cuts were made to Operational Engineering all through the 90's.
It's also worth remembering that contract staff and those at Whiteley are real people with families and mortgages too. Many of the contract staff in engineering departments were hired to avoid the redundancy and pension liabilities and will be far worse off than the permanent staff if they are laid off.