To get to the point straight away I think the crane accident that occurred at Warwick was a significant catalyst that has caused the Org. to change its plans suddenly.
List of assumptions, not all of them are validated
- there was a serious crane accident that occurred at Warwick approx. 5 months ago
- there was a letter sent out recently stating a change in Warwick volunteer requests. They only want qualified tradespersons. Even where a wife has worked with their qualified husband, they do not want the wife. This letter also stated that only two of the residential buildings at Warwick will be completely built at this stage. I saw this letter on reddit but it wasn't verified.
- another letter stated that accommodation would only be provided to men
- the Org. has sold off much of its New York properties and are determined to have Warwick ready to move into by the end of 2016. It's a deadline that they appear to be sticking to no matter what and is probably a necessity. It is their HeadQuarters.
- there have been numerous and sudden cutbacks by the Org. This includes stopping payments for Special Pioneers from the Jan 2016, reducing the numbers of volunteers at many Bethel Branches, reducing unnecessary services at the Bethels and putting a halt to all other building work where it is feasible.
- the halt in building work may only be temporary, this is one method that they use to make money after all. All money is being directed to the Warwick build and once built will see their available cash once again being freed up for other purposes.
- the Org. prides itself in using volunteer labour and appears to have undertaken the builds in order to utilize as much volunteer labour as it can. Their costings and available finance would have been calculated on this basis.
It is likely that many of the cutbacks were already planned but something occurred that forced them to introduce the changes as soon as they could.
Many of us have been speculating regarding the Org's position on insurance. Those that appear to be in the know state that the Warwick project is properly insured, not self insured.
Undertaking the construction of large building projects is serious business. The amount of regulations associated with this is enormous. The methods currently being used by the Org. may have fallen short of these, which is highly likely due to the fact that they undertake their construction work very differently than the norm. They may have gotten away with working outside some of these regulations in the past but all has come to a head on the Warwick build and has come to the attention of authorities. It is very likely that the Warwick accident has exposed this. Not only would the local council and other building authorities have looked into it but their Insurance Company would also.
If they now only want certified and qualified tradesmen in general because they have been forced to do so by one or more of the above then it changes their game plans significantly. They are not going to get anywhere near the volunteers that they need, not because Brothers/Sisters aren't willing but there are not enough qualified.
In order to finish the work by the end of 2016 they will now need to employ more contractors that they originally never envisaged or financially factored in. They are very expensive and even more so when you require them immediately. There is not enough time to send out tenders for the best price. The other problem is that many of the contractors won't be available at short notice because they have already planned and taken on contracts. With a low supply of contractors available the cost will be even higher.
This must be so embarrassing for the Org. Now they have to rely so much more on the 'World' to get their project finished. It would also appear that they've been pushed into this position by their so called enemies and it's costing them big bucks. Even more embarrassing is that if they had just followed the regulations in the first place they wouldn't be in this position. Whatever's happened, they brought it upon themselves. If this is not the case then it is likely we will see a big lawsuit. They pride themselves in being one of the most (if not the most) litigious religion on this planet.
The Org. has already shown that it has limited accessible cash at any point in time, although they are Asset rich. They need to throw all available cash at the Warwick project.
With the blow out in costs for Warwick this is going to hurt them for some time and so they've had to look at every other way possible to reduce costs.
Their reliance on voluntary labour, both financially and physically, has come back to bite them in a big way. Encouraging JWs to pioneer in preference to getting a trade has hurt them, not just in reduced donations but in relatively free qualified labour.