Virgin Media buyout concern

BECTU has expressed concern over press reports that Virgin Media is the target of a private equity buyout.

There has been speculation that Carlyle, one of the world's leading private equity groups, has made an offer for the cable, mobile and broadband company.

There have been serious concerns raised by trade unions and others about the growing trend for leading UK employers to be bought out by private equity bids. Many of these buyouts have left companies with large-scale debts, which has resulted in major job losses.

BECTU's members at Virgin have already seen tremendous and stressful change over the last few years according to union officials.

NTL's well documented financial difficulties were followed by mergers with Telewest and then Virgin. Throughout this period of change there have been extensive redundancies and widespread uncertainty.

BECTU believes the buyout rumours will undermine the confidence of staff in the future stability of Virgin Media, and is calling on any prospective new owner to recognise the importance of reassuring staff about their future job security and conditions.

BECTU National Official Nigel Mason said; "Clearly our members in Virgin will be disturbed by these rumours.

"There has been considerable debate of late about the role of private equity buyouts in the UK economy, and recent history warns us that these immensely complicated financial deals are often paid for with workers' jobs.

"In the event of such a buyout we will be seeking assurances from the new owners regarding members' jobs and terms and conditions."