YOUR extensive reports on the privatisation of parts of Blackburn with Darwen Council's work failed to note that the chorus of acclaim is far from universal.

Perhaps the antagonism of trade unions to privatisation is so notorious that it can be taken for granted and quietly ignored. Blackburn with Darwen is, however, to be given a dose of the nostrum just when opinion polls indicate the general public seems to be coming round to the view that public places should always and usually be run by the Government or local authorities.

Trade unions, of course, have a vested interest in opposing privatisation. Our priority is to ensure that people have good pay, good conditions and good treatment when they are at work.

The upshot of privatisation is often that those working in the areas affected end up worse off.

Even when there is initially a degree of protection for transferred staff, subsequent recruitment is on a less attractive basis.

There are even wider ramifications. The public sector may lag behind national pay averages, but it is still an important counter-weight to regional disparities. Combine the breaking of this with the introduction of a company which admits that it sees us as "a stable low cost area" and you risk reinforcing these disparities, rather than combating them.

As for the promise of "new" jobs, well, it will be interesting to see just how big the promised "business centre" proves to be, if it does materialise. Add the 500 promised "new" jobs and the 500 jobs transferred from the council and it's going to have to hold 1,000 staff, isn't it?

I think it is fair to say, though, that Capita has a reputation for sucking jobs in rather than for actually "creating" them, jobs "created" at a Capita "business centre" at the expense of jobs "lost" at employers elsewhere in the travel to work area will be "new" only to Capita, not to the local economy.

Capita's own explanation of its plans for its Blackburn office suggests that some of the work it does on other contracts is not place-sensitive. Could there not, then, be equally, at some stage, a flow outward should Capita find a need to review its network of offices and their workloads?

It has often been said that one of the problems of our local economy is too many "branch" factories. It looks as if the council has made some of its own activities equally vulnerable to out-of-town corporate decisions.

A recent analysis by the Centre for Public Studies of a similar project at Middlesbrough pointed out that at least 14 financial services and housing benefits contracts have experienced major problems over the last two years. Capita are not the worst-performing company, but they have been involved in two of these examples -- in Lambeth and Westminster.

The public mood on privatisation is undoubtedly changing because of the service consequences across a number of circumstances. The adverse impact on local economies has been less obvious. Put the two together and Blackburn with Darwen Council's decision gives little cause for joy or light: we have strong grounds for the belief that it will be directly detrimental to some people, and the whole is riddled with risks and threats for the future.

IAN GALLAGHER, Secretary, Blackburn and District Trades Council, 18 Tontine Street, Blackburn.