Archive - Wednesday, 27 March 2002


Find by date

Other ways to search

Also look for

Never miss anything again. Sign up for our RSS news feeds and Newsletters.

Fears for 900 jobs at Call Centre

Nine hundred Pembrokeshire jobs are in the balance this week as fears grow for the future of its largest single private employer.

ITV Digitals customer inquiries are handled exclusively by staff at the Pembroke Dock Call Centre.

Whether those employees have a future at the centre depends on the outcome of talks between ITV Digitals parent companies and the Nationwide League.

Carlton and Granada want to re-negotiate a £315 million deal to screen Nationwide League and Worthington Cup football matches. ITV Digital claims it will have to close its sports channel, ITV Sport, unless this annual payment is cut by £64 million. Industry analysts predict a grim future for ITV Digital if its sports arm is axed.

Granadas chairman, Charles Allen, says it would be misleading to comment on whether or not it had a future, while the networks corporate affairs department declined to expand on what it terms its restructuring process.

We talk to our staff direct, not through the newspapers, says its spokeswoman. These are not the reassurances that 900 staff at the Pembroke Dock Call Centre are looking for. Union boss Danny Fellowes admits staff are worried. There is no doubt that ITV Digital has got very serious problems, it is a very worrying time for the people who earn their living at the call centre, says Mr Fellowes, regional industrial organiser of the Transport and General Workers Union.

A customer service representative can expect to earn in the region of £200 a week at the centre, but salaries are much higher among managers and team leaders.

If ITV Digital does pull out, Mr Fellowes is confident that a new client will be found.

This call centre has the best facilities in the UK, with its own dedicated training centre on site, he says. But he believes there are lessons to be learned from dedicating the site to one single company. It there was a spread of clients the pain would not be as bad if one of them pulled out, he adds.