Union launches campaign to save Virgin Media jobs

THE Communication Workers’ union (CWU) has launched a campaign to try and save 435 jobs at a Virgin Media call centre in Liverpool.

The closure of the site, which is run by Adecco, was announced last month.
The union said that call centre staff at the site had not had a pay rise for more than six years and that the company only announced its decision to quit merseyside after they had asked for a rise.

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman is also backing the union’s campaign and has gone to meet workers from the site, which is based at Albert Dock.

CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said: “This is scandalous behaviour from a household brand which holds the futures of hundreds of Merseyside families in its grasp.

“Cold talk of ‘rationalising property’ – which is what the company is hiding behind – shows no respect for the employees who have worked for them, been outsourced to Adecco and gone over six years without a pay rise.

“If building costs are the main problem then we can find affordable alternatives which keep the jobs in Liverpool. Virgin Media knows that offers of jobs in Swansea and Manchester aren’t realistic so we want them to show commitment to their skilled staff in Liverpool and engage over alternatives which prevent hundreds of people being made redundant.”

CWU said that it was concerned about the timing of the announcement, which came as staff undertook formal moves to get a pay rise.

Staff have been 90 days notice of the end to jobs in Liverpool and the site is earmarked for closure by April 2012.