Sunday, November 28, 2010

News From Spanish Bethel in Spain

The Branch Office staff in Spain has been decreasing year after year since 1998. In that year they dismissed 13 members at once. The biggest reduction took place at the begining of 2010. Around 75 members were dismissed. The majority of them got the chance to be sent as Special Pioneers to the cities they came from many years ago. Many of them spent two and three decades in Bethel and they are in their 50's. It is sad for these older brothers to be turned out of their home. Now, the Spanish branch has only around 125 workers. This is the half the amount they had in the 80's and 90's.
In the late 90's the branch undertook a big construction job to expand the Spanish Bethel. Where they previously had only accommodation for 98 workers (48 rooms in six small buildings) they now built accommodation for 600 people. This expansion has been a big fiasco for the witnesses in Spain, and specialy for the Branch commitee. The vast majority of the new facilities haven't been used. They are empty. Obviously it cost a lot of money and they need to save money now more than ever.
How long they will carry on like now? Who knows.
The Spanish brothers are expecting two big decisions from the branch commitee soon:
1, A reduction in the amount of the special pioneers in Spain because Special Pioneers cost money.
2, Putting the whole Branch up for sale and they moving to an smaller site nearby.
Also, some of the Spanish brothers sued the Watchtower organization for Social Security Benefits. I do not know if they won their case or not, but I hope that they did.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You really need to proof read your posts. Most of them are loaded with grammatical errors.