Hands0n
9th May 2006, 10:46 PM
Convergence, the 2006 buzzword is being persued by all the mobile operators (and others) as a way of getting all of your business, for a fair price of course. But there are, inevitably, casualties.
NTL has confirmed it is to axe around 6,000 UK jobs while outsourcing a "significant number" as part of its merger with Telewest.
In a statement today, NTL chief exec Steve Burch said the cableco is to "accelerate our integration program" so it can save £250m a year by the end of 2007.
"Part of this process will involve outsourcing a significant number of jobs, where employment would be transferred to an external organisation, as well as actual job reductions. In total, this will involve around 6,000 employees by the end of 2007."
Around 80 per cent of the job cuts will be carried out over the next 12 months.
But only yesterday NTL was telling employees that reports of the job cuts were still "speculation" and nothing was official.
In a memo seen by The Register and sent to staff yesterday from Burch and COO Neil Berkett, the pair said: "You may have seen speculation in the press over the weekend in respect to ntl:Telewest announcing 6,000 colleagues being affected by outsourcing and redundancies. We would like to emphasise that this is speculation and not an official release. We have not communicated our intentions to any external party at all at this stage. It does, however, include some elements of truth.
"We are sorry you have read this in the media, but can assure you that it was always our intention to talk to our people first, our shareholders second, and then the press.
"As part of the integration process, following completion of the merger, we are currently working hard to bring our two businesses together. This involves conducting a comprehensive review of our operational procedures in all areas.
"We understand the level of uncertainty people are feeling, particularly following media coverage over the weekend. We have not confirmed any information to the press and what appeared was speculation."
But NTL's ham-fisted handling of the situation has angered unions who were "surprised and dismayed" that staff had to find out about the job losses from the press rather than the company.
Speaking yesterday, Communication Workers Union (CWU) assistant secretary Brian Healy said it had "already raised concerns with the company and are seeking assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies".
"We are also lobbying hard for the retention of customer contact centre jobs in the UK. There has been talk of outsourcing these jobs and, if this is the case, the CWU wants reassurances that outsourcing will be limited to within the UK allowing the transfer of workers and their terms and conditions of employment through the TUPE regulations and minimising UK redundancies," he said. ®
Article Source: The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/09/ntl_job_cuts/)
And ....
Cable TV firm NTL has announced that it plans to cut or outsource 6,000 jobs by the end of 2007.
The news comes as it completes a £3.4bn merger with rival Telewest and looks to obtain cost savings of £250m per year.
About 1,500 call centre jobs in Swansea and Liverpool will transfer to IBM and 54 posts in Teesside will move there.
NTL said about 4,500 other employees would leave the company, many of them also seeing their posts outsourced, but it could not provide any more details.
It said most of the job cuts that did not involve outsourcing would go through natural attrition, voluntary redundancy and cuts in temporary staff.
The firm - which has its headquarters at Hook in Hampshire - added that it hoped to keep compulsory job losses to a minimum.
'Devastating blow'
"Since we announced the merger with Telewest, we have consistently said that headcount reductions are likely," NTL said in a statement.
"We cannot avoid taking difficult decisions if it means a better experience for our customers in the long term."
Peter Skyte, national officer of the Amicus union, said the announcement was "a devastating blow for thousands of employees across the whole country".
"There is no corporate social responsibility in this announcement and it is difficult to fathom how cutting so many UK jobs will be good for NTL's customers," he added.
On Tuesday, NTL - which has debts of £5.4bn - reported an operating profit of £4m for the first three months of the year, and said it had added 25,800 new subscribers.
Last month, it agreed to buy Virgin Mobile for almost £1bn. It aims to use the brand for all its operations and become the first UK firm to provide a four-way offer of cable TV, internet access, fixed line telephony and mobile phone services.
Article Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4982450.stm)
No doubt that most excellent career advice given by our very own Margaret Hodge (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/17/nhoj17.xml) will be of great benefit to the 6,000 and no doubt highly appreciated by them also.
NTL has confirmed it is to axe around 6,000 UK jobs while outsourcing a "significant number" as part of its merger with Telewest.
In a statement today, NTL chief exec Steve Burch said the cableco is to "accelerate our integration program" so it can save £250m a year by the end of 2007.
"Part of this process will involve outsourcing a significant number of jobs, where employment would be transferred to an external organisation, as well as actual job reductions. In total, this will involve around 6,000 employees by the end of 2007."
Around 80 per cent of the job cuts will be carried out over the next 12 months.
But only yesterday NTL was telling employees that reports of the job cuts were still "speculation" and nothing was official.
In a memo seen by The Register and sent to staff yesterday from Burch and COO Neil Berkett, the pair said: "You may have seen speculation in the press over the weekend in respect to ntl:Telewest announcing 6,000 colleagues being affected by outsourcing and redundancies. We would like to emphasise that this is speculation and not an official release. We have not communicated our intentions to any external party at all at this stage. It does, however, include some elements of truth.
"We are sorry you have read this in the media, but can assure you that it was always our intention to talk to our people first, our shareholders second, and then the press.
"As part of the integration process, following completion of the merger, we are currently working hard to bring our two businesses together. This involves conducting a comprehensive review of our operational procedures in all areas.
"We understand the level of uncertainty people are feeling, particularly following media coverage over the weekend. We have not confirmed any information to the press and what appeared was speculation."
But NTL's ham-fisted handling of the situation has angered unions who were "surprised and dismayed" that staff had to find out about the job losses from the press rather than the company.
Speaking yesterday, Communication Workers Union (CWU) assistant secretary Brian Healy said it had "already raised concerns with the company and are seeking assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies".
"We are also lobbying hard for the retention of customer contact centre jobs in the UK. There has been talk of outsourcing these jobs and, if this is the case, the CWU wants reassurances that outsourcing will be limited to within the UK allowing the transfer of workers and their terms and conditions of employment through the TUPE regulations and minimising UK redundancies," he said. ®
Article Source: The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/09/ntl_job_cuts/)
And ....
Cable TV firm NTL has announced that it plans to cut or outsource 6,000 jobs by the end of 2007.
The news comes as it completes a £3.4bn merger with rival Telewest and looks to obtain cost savings of £250m per year.
About 1,500 call centre jobs in Swansea and Liverpool will transfer to IBM and 54 posts in Teesside will move there.
NTL said about 4,500 other employees would leave the company, many of them also seeing their posts outsourced, but it could not provide any more details.
It said most of the job cuts that did not involve outsourcing would go through natural attrition, voluntary redundancy and cuts in temporary staff.
The firm - which has its headquarters at Hook in Hampshire - added that it hoped to keep compulsory job losses to a minimum.
'Devastating blow'
"Since we announced the merger with Telewest, we have consistently said that headcount reductions are likely," NTL said in a statement.
"We cannot avoid taking difficult decisions if it means a better experience for our customers in the long term."
Peter Skyte, national officer of the Amicus union, said the announcement was "a devastating blow for thousands of employees across the whole country".
"There is no corporate social responsibility in this announcement and it is difficult to fathom how cutting so many UK jobs will be good for NTL's customers," he added.
On Tuesday, NTL - which has debts of £5.4bn - reported an operating profit of £4m for the first three months of the year, and said it had added 25,800 new subscribers.
Last month, it agreed to buy Virgin Mobile for almost £1bn. It aims to use the brand for all its operations and become the first UK firm to provide a four-way offer of cable TV, internet access, fixed line telephony and mobile phone services.
Article Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4982450.stm)
No doubt that most excellent career advice given by our very own Margaret Hodge (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/17/nhoj17.xml) will be of great benefit to the 6,000 and no doubt highly appreciated by them also.