Microsoft may save the call centre jobs (From Western Telegraph)

Microsoft may save the call centre jobs

AMERICAN software billionaire Bill Gates could today (Wednesday) be the saviour of 1,000 jobs at the Pembrokeshire call centre.

As representatives of the European Parliament and the National Assembly met for crisis talks at ITV Digitals Pembroke Dock call centre on Monday, it emerged that Microsoft could be keen to buy the company. An announcement could be made today (Wednesday).

But a potential buyer would have to wait six weeks to be granted a broadcasting licence and the question on every call centre workers lips is who will foot the bill for their salaries until a deal is struck?

Manpower, which recruits and employs the staff at the Pembroke Dock site, admit it is a challenging time for the workforce.

Its contract manager at the site, Debbie Rainbow, told the Western Telegraph on Monday: Our main priority is with the staff. It always has been and will continue to be. There is a degree of uncertainty because of the current situation, but we are confident a resolution can be found. The National Assembly and the European Parliament could hold the key to that resolution. Andrew Davies AM, Minister for Economic Development, and Jill Evans, Welsh MEP and member of the European Parliament Employment Committee, were both at the call centre on Monday to look at ways of plugging that six-week gap.

Christine Gwyther, Assembly Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, had invited Andrew Davies to what is now being referred to as the Cleddau Centre, because of his direct responsibility for funding bodies such as the WDA, ELWa and the National Assemblys Regional Selective Assistance programme.

It was vital that he was at todays meeting when the potential opportunities in the medium and long term were being discussed, she said. Further meetings will be held this week to explore ways in which the public sector can help in the short term.

Andrew Davies was impressed by what he saw and described the meeting as very positive. We will leave no stone unturned in protecting the jobs at the Cleddau Centre, he said. Our focus now is on bringing together all the key players to secure a future for this site. He was unable to give a commitment on whether short-term financial aid would be released but added: We will have a clearer view on Wednesday (today) whether anyone is waiting in the wings to buy the company. But with speculation that ITV Digital could run out of money by Sunday, time is short. Its administrators, Deloitte and Touche, put the company up for sale last Thursday after it failed to secure additional funding. Major suppliers of the company had indicated their willingness to provide services on a short-term basis, but on Monday support was weakening. Workers at the Pembroke Dock call centre are pinning their hopes on Microsoft.

The company is rumoured to be forming a takeover consortium ahead of making a formal bid to the administrators this week. q No-one doubts that alternative clients would be attracted to the Pembroke Dock call centre if ITV Digital fails to attract a buyer. Pembrokeshires MPs Jackie Lawrence and Nick Ainger regard its facilities as the best in Britain.

If a sale of the business as a whole does not proceed, then we will be looking to both the WDA and Manpower to bring in alternative clients to the centre, they say.

With the excellent, well-trained workforce and probably the best such facilities in the UK we are confident for the long-term but need to work to keep the jobs in the interim.

Their confidence is shared by Christine Gwyther, Assembly Member of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. This isnt a sunset industry, it is a sunshine industry with lots of potential for growth, she says.

CAPTION

Crisis talks: Euro MP Jill Evans (right) met Manpower representatives Debbie Rainbow and Duncan Graham on Monday. Also pictured (left) is Llyr Hughes Griffiths, Plaid Cymru Assembly candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. PICTURE: Western Telegraph.