More jobs misery (From Western Telegraph)

More jobs misery

CALL CENTRE staff at Pembroke Dock received the worst possible early Christmas present ever on Thursday.

News that all the jobs at the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat centre will go on January 31st came as a cruel blow to the 236 remaining employees. For some it will be the second time they have faced unemployment in eight months.

In April, the collapse of ITV Digital led to 900 redundancies. Last week's announcement came hard on the heels of the 168 job losses with the closure of Fishguard's Dewhirst factory.

The call centre news came as a shock to the Welsh Development Agency, Pembrokeshire County Council and local politicians. They had been in hourly expectation of celebrating news of a big jobs boost from a government contract.

Instead, the contract went to another Objective One area in South Yorkshire.

As a result, Vertex - the company which bought out 7C, a partner with Manpower in the Pembroke Dock call centre - decided to pull the plug. Demoralised workers felt stabbed in the back.

They bitterly blame the Government and 7C/Vertex. They thought more could have been done to bring the Department of Works and Pensions contract to the Cleddau Reach call centre. And they accused Vertex of being an asset stripper, alleging that there were plans to remove computers and furniture from the centre. A Vertex spokesperson said the announcement, less then two weeks after the company took over, was an 'unfortunate coincidence'.

Director of human resources, Hilary Campbell, admitted: "It was a hugely difficult decision, particularly at this time of the year.

"But we came to the conclusion that the centre was not a sustainable operation. 7C would have made the decision."

Local MP Nick Ainger said: "I had hoped that we would be celebrating a major contract from the Department of Works and Pensions. "All I can say is that we came very close.

"This news could not have come at a worst time. I can understand everyone's anger and frustration. But I have to say that we now have real, new opportunities. There are a number of clients interested in the site and the WDA and county council will be revisiting them. The doors are open. "This is a modern industry, a state-of-the art centre and a skilled workforce. What we must do is secure a number of clients willing to give long-term contracts and security of employment and not have all our eggs in one basket."

* Redundancy fears among Ministry of Defence staff at South Pembrokeshire military bases have been allayed. Most employees will transfer to a private consortium who will manage the ranges from July.