NTL assurances sought

As more details emerge of NTL's proposals to cut 6,000 posts, BECTU has sought assurances on the future of members' jobs.

NTL has confirmed that 1,535 call-centre jobs in Swansea and Liverpool will be outsourced to IBM, 196 staff in the Concord Call Centre in Wythenshaw will be retrained and there will be around 50 redundancies amongst support engineering staff on Teeside as their work also transfers to IBM.

BECTU has received commitments from NTL that no jobs will be lost as a result of 'off-shoring' by transferring the work to another country such as India or China.

However, the union still has serious concerns about the longer-term future of these jobs in the UK.

BECTU is calling on NTL to ensure that when it transfers these 1,535 staff members to IBM, safeguards are in place to make sure these jobs don't disappear overseas once the spotlight has moved on.

The union is also seeking safeguards to protect the terms and conditions and pension rights of staff who face transfer to IBM.

In addition, BECTU is seeking detailed information from NTL as to the identity and likely fate of approximately 4,500 other staff at risk if the employer is to reduce headcount by a total of 6,000 by the end of 2007, as proposed.

The union wants to know:

• Who and where are these staff?
• What jobs are they doing?
• How does NTL intend to remove them from the payroll?

BECTU opposes any attempt to reduce numbers by means of compulsory redundancies and is seeking meaningful dialogue with NTL on how it proposes to make these cuts.

If, as suggested, the bulk of these additional job losses will also be by means of outsourcing to third party employers then the staff and their representatives have a right to early and meaningful consultation.

Whilst NTL management were in direct contact with BECTU about this issue by 9 May, the union is still appalled by the insensitive and chaotic way these proposed job losses have been communicated to their staff.

BECTU official Sharon Elliott commented: "Yet again we have seen workers in this country hear about threats to their jobs on the radio as they are eating their breakfast.

"As NTL moves forward with its proposals, we are calling on the company to enter into proper and timely consultation with the staff affected and with BECTU."